Darren Oliver and the Mets Dynasty That Wasn't

If the last four seasons of Mets baseball have proven anything, it's that winning takes 25 guys, a number that jumps to 35-40 over the course of a regular season. To me, the single biggest difference between the 2006 team and the '07-'09 varieties was depth. Remember all the injuries to the pitching staff in 2006? Remember all the games Chad Bradford held for us in relief? How many games Endy Chavez won with a walk-off hit after Jose Valentin had tied it?Sure, Beltran, Delgado, Wright, and Reyes all had monster years. There's no question that those guys were the driving force for that team. But around any "driving force" there's an edifice that chugs along with it; that edifice was strong top to bottom in 2006, and it's been seriously lacking ever since.To me, a guy who epitomizes that distinction is Darren Oliver. Oliver was our long relief specialist in '06, racking up a 3.44 ERA in 81 innings across 45 games.In one of the more puzzling moves ...