It’s finally official.

Johan Santana is now a New York Met. The former Twins’ lefty ace who won two AL Cy Youngs finally reached agreement with the Mets on a six-year contract extension last night worth a reported $137.5 million.

With the Friday 5 PM deadline coming and going, Met GM Omar Minaya and Santana were given a two-hour extension so they could iron out the details after being a reported $20 million apart by SI/WFAN’s Jon Heyman.

Now that the 28 year-old southpaw is officially an Amazin, it immediately bolsters their staff which also includes Pedro Martinez, John Maine and Oliver Perez. That top four is arguably the deepest in the senior circuit and should make them favorites to win the NL East a year after an awful September collapse in which they blew a seven-game lead in the final two weeks, handing the division over to NL MVP Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies.

With a lineup which features young stars David Wright and Jose Reyes along with Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and the ageless Moises Alou, the Mets should be extremely tough to beat in 2008.

They’ll hope that kind of improved rotation will be enough to offset a questionable bullpen which folded down the stretch in 2007. Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano and vet closer Billy Wagner still must be counted on to deliver when their starters don’t go deep into games. They’ll also get back Duaner Sanchez who was a big part of that pen in 2006 when they won the division and came within a game of the World Series.

Santana’s acquisition certainly makes them the favorites on paper to win the NL. One of the Mets’ closest rivals took notice.

“He’s good but he’s not unbeatable. He got hit around last year,” Atlanta starter Tim Hudson pointed out to the AP in reference to Santana’s rough second half last year. “We’ve just got to be concerned about ourselves. We can’t be consumed by what anyone else does.”

“I just know he’s 29 years old and he’s got two Cy Young Awards. I know he’s elite,” Braves’ catcher Brian McCann added. “We’ve got guys who are elite, too. You’re going to have to go out and play it out. It’s going to be fun.”

If anything it makes the NL East the division to follow again. You know the Mets should get stiff competition from the Braves and Phils making those series more fun to watch.

If you’re a baseball fan who enjoys rivalries and great ball, April can’t get here soon enough. Especially if you’re a Met fan who would like to erase last year’s dreadful finish from their memory banks.

For Minaya and the Mets, this was a move he had to make. He can thank Santana for basically calling the shots with Minnesota GM Bill Smith as told to me by NY Sportscene’s own Joe McDonald.

Santana wanted something to get done and Smith finally agreed to accept Minaya’s offer of pitching prospects Philip Humber & Kevin Mulvey along with OF prospect Carlos Gomez plus minor league pitcher Deolis Guerra. 

We’ll have much more on this deal and the baseball offseason with Gotham Baseball’s Mark Healey.

Stay tuned.