No team made more changes this winter, but will they turn out to be for the better?

By Jeff Pearlman

Among the Mets' many question marks, the biggest -- figuratively and literally -- is Vaughn.  Chuck Solomon ENEMY LINES An opposing team's scout sizes up the Mets "This is the most improved team in baseball. ... Bobby Valentine is a helluva manager. In 2000, when he led a so-so team to the World Series, that told me a lot. His ego is large, but his players like playing for him. ... When I first scouted Mike Piazza , he was a terrible defensive catcher. Now I think he gets too much heat. He doesn't throw well, but he works hard on calling a game, and he takes care of his pitchers. ... Jeromy Burnitz will strike out a lot, but he'll hit a ton of homers in that lineup. ... Roger Cedeño 's not a good outfielder, and he doesn't have a great idea at the plate. But man, can he run. ... The Mets stole Roberto Alomar . He's the best all-around player on the team. Smart, hardworking, great glove. ... Rey Ordoñez isn't a good hitter, but in this lineup he might bat .270. He puts the ball in play, but he's too much of a free swinger. ... If Jeff D'Amico stays healthy, the Brewers will shoot themselves. He's shown flashes of being a No. 2 or 3 starter on a championship club. He doesn't throw hard, but his precision is ungodly. ... Pedro Astacio has a quality curveball and a good sinker, and all those years in Coors Field gave him thick skin. ... When Al Leiter was young, he just threw hard. Now he's a pitcher: He uses his changeup and curve on a regular basis, and his command is very good. ... Armando Benitez is a fine closer, as long as he doesn't get too macho. When the crowd is on its feet and he gets too caught up, he just pumps fastballs and he gets hit. But if he mixes in his splitter or slider, he's fine."

On a cold day in December, Mets G.M. Steve Phillips drove to Massachusetts with manager Bobby Valentine and then assistant G.M. Omar Minaya to watch the workout of an aging, overweight first baseman with a huge contract and an injury-plagued past, including a 2001 season wiped out by a ruptured tendon in his left arm. "I didn't know what to expect," says Phillips. "But I was intrigued."

There wasn't an abundance of chatter that morning as Mo Vaughn stepped to the plate to take batting practice at his indoor cage. But before he began hitting, the owner of 299 career home runs turned to Phillips, held up three fingers, smiled and said, "You're gonna see me take three swings. And you'll know I'm good."

Vaughn took those three swings, turned to the G.M. again and said, "See, I told you."

A week later Phillips pulled off one of the riskiest and most dramatic trades in the 40-year history of the franchise, sending 11-game winner Kevin Appier, the No. 2 starter on a less-than-dominant staff, to Anaheim for Vaughn, including the three years and $42 million left on his contract. In Vaughn the Mets get two critical elements that have been in short supply since catcher Mike Piazza arrived early in the 1998 season: a slugger with enough clout to share the load with Piazza, and a clubhouse presence with Reggie Jacksonesque magnetism.

Vaughn immediately took to New York City like Enrique Iglesias to cheesy ballads. He visited the workers at ground zero and met the city's new mayor, Mike Bloomberg. Smelling the publicity bonanza, Manhattan's famed Carnegie Deli named a new corned beef, pastrami, turkey and cheese sandwich the Mo-Licious. Like Vaughn, it is big and hard to get ahold of. Unlike Vaughn, it comes with a pickle. "I could feed the homeless population with that [sandwich]," Vaughn says. "It's tremendous."

Last season New York averaged an NL-low 3.96 runs per game and hit just .249, second worst among the league's 16 teams. That Piazza hit 36 home runs is something of a miracle, considering that his protector in the order was Robin Ventura, he of the .237 average and 21 homers. At one point the Mets' tepid lineup included Ventura, Todd Zeile, Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton, Timo Perez and Rey Ordoñez. Combined output in 2001: 53 home runs, 250 RBIs.

Vaughn's output in 2000, his last healthy season: 36 home runs, 117 RBIs.

Vaughn won't be the only newcomer to Shea Stadium. Rightfielder Jeromy Burnitz, leftfielder Roger Cedeño (who played for the Mets in 1999), second baseman Roberto Alomar and starters Pedro Astacio and Shawn Estes were also acquired in the off-season as Phillips orchestrated the team's most dramatic face-lift since '92, when then G.M. Al Harazin wowed the baseball world by signing Bobby Bonilla, Eddie Murray and Vince Coleman to lucrative free-agent deals.

"This isn't the same [situation]," says Phillips, recalling a club that lost 90 games and suffered one embarrassing p.r. gaffe after another. "The character I see here is outstanding. Mo and Alomar are quality people and teammates. All of our new players are."

While Vaughn is perfectly suited for the Big Apple Circus, it will be intriguing to see how Burnitz, a mercurial slugger with four straight 30-home runs seasons and five straight 100-strikeout seasons, readjusts to his old haunts. A decade ago Burnitz was the gem of the Mets' system. After being a called up in '93, he and Dallas Green, New York's manager at the time, clashed. After the following season Burnitz was banished to Cleveland.

"That seems like a lifetime ago," he says. "It was a different time, and I was unhappy. But surrounded by this lineup, how can I not be in a good mood?"

Issue date: March 25, 2002