Mets baseball blog

Pedro feels 'excellent'

The Mets have been mostly saying that Pedro Martinez won't pitch in the first half of next season as he recovers from rotator cuff surgery. Yesterday, Martinez was a bit more exact, saying that he was "aiming for July or August as the return date." Martinez, who appeared at David Ortiz's charity softball game in the Dominican Republic, told The Associated Press his "progress has been excellent," and added that he's bulked up during his offseason conditioning program.

"I've put on about 10 pounds of muscle, because that's one of our strategies," Martinez told The AP. Martinez is listed at 5-11 and 180 pounds on the Mets' Web site. Martinez was 9-8 with a 4.48 ERA during his injury-riddled 2006 season, but he is optimistic about a successful return. "I don't have problems anymore with my reach or flexibility and so far everything is going well," Martinez said. (Daily News)

Pursuing Zito, Mets net zero

During a conversation last Friday, Omar Minaya pretty much realized that Barry Zito wouldn't be a Met and that any additions to his rotation this winter likely would have to come from a trade. Zito's agent, Scott Boras, told the Mets' GM there was a team that would pay the pitcher $18 million per year for seven years and if the Mets wanted to compete for the lefty, they would have to offer more than five years. Minaya wouldn't budge - and Zito yesterday agreed to a seven-year, $126 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.

"I could not recommend to our ownership crossing the barrier of five years," Minaya said yesterday on a conference call. "Our final - first, really - offer was for five years. We were going to be aggressive on the AAV (average annual value), but we wouldn't go seven years." Continue

No joy in Metville; Omar has struck out

The Giants completed their seven-year, $126-million agreement with Barry Zito very late Wednesday night, and immediately, ecstatic general manager Brian Sabean began calling his co-workers to share the good news. It was that kind of meaningful transaction for this franchise. You don't mind being woken up to hear about it. Or, as a Giants team official put it yesterday, "We're back!" Which brings us to the Mets. Coming off their first division title in 18 years, with so much positive mojo from the 2006 season, they now have officially taken a step back.

In their sights, they had a pitcher who would have cost them only money. Who fit the team in so many ways, when there seemingly are no similar alternatives. And they whiffed. Mets GM Omar Minaya spoke well during a telephone news conference yesterday, citing his unwillingness to go to a sixth year for Zito, boasting of the Mets' deep bullpen, opining that "I don't think championships are put together in December." Continue

Zito signs with Giants

The Mets have fallen short in the Barry Zito sweepstakes -- not to the Texas Rangers, the club presumed to have bid the most for the lefthander, but to the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants have agreed in principle to sign Zito to a whopping, seven-year, $126-million contract, a person familiar with the situation confirmed today. MLB.com first reported of Zito's decision to join the Giants.While a contingent of Mets officials travelled to Southern California last week to meet with Zito, the Mets were wary all along of investing too much in Zito. But the Giants clearly had no reservations. Zito gets to continue his career in Northern California -- he leaves the neighboring Oakland Athletics -- while moving over to the more pitcher-friendly National League. Continue

Zzzzzz in Zito race

Barry Zito has been given a weekend deadline by the Texas Rangers, but people close to the situation said yesterday they don't expect it to have any impact on the slow-moving Zito negotiations for the Mets - or the Yankees, if they get involved. According to one executive from a West Coast team that has expressed interest in Zito, agent Scott Boras isn't prepared to get serious in negotiations until after New Year's Day.

"We've been told that everything is on hold until then," the source said. Mets officials weren't commenting yesterday, but a major league official said the Mets, too, were waiting for word from Boras to take the next step in negotiations after their face-to-face meeting last week in southern California. Continue

Barry, Mets closer?

The Mets believe their chances of signing free agent Barry Zito improved last night with the news that the Rangers, apparently discouraged about their own pursuit of Zito, traded top prospects to the White Sox for highly regarded righthander Brandon McCarthy.

How much the Mets' chances improved is anyone's guess, considering that the Giants and Mariners, and perhaps another team or two, are in the hunt for Zito and may have an edge if whispers are true that the lefthander ideally would prefer to stay on the West Coast. Still, the Rangers were considered something of a wild card in the Zito sweepstakes if only because they were widely viewed as the team that would make the highest bid. The Mets took the trade for McCarthy as a sign that Texas either was getting indications that Zito wants no part of pitching in such a hitter-friendly ballpark or that the Rangers themselves aren't willing to pay $100 million-plus for a pitcher who is not regarded as an ace. Continue

Shea prices going up

The Mets, in the wake of their first National League East title in 18 years, are raising their ticket prices for 2007. As is standard for professional sports teams, the high-end ticket-holders will suffer the biggest hit to their wallets. The Metro Club Gold seats, the seats closest to the dugouts, will range from $72 to $108 per game, a Mets representative confirmed Friday. Last season, those seats ranged from $60 to $96. Once again, the Mets will vary their ticket prices depending on the quality of the opponent. There are five categories: platinum, gold, silver, bronze and value.

The average price of that ticket, the Mets said, is $87. Last year, it was $74. Virtually all of these seats go to season ticket-holders. The Mets increased most other ticket prices by less than $10. The most popular tickets - outfield field and loge boxes and mezzanine boxes - average $43.93 per game, the Mets said. In 2006, the per-game cost was $39.30. Continue

No Mets' offer to Zito yet

There's a good chance Barry Zito won't get signed before the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve. As more details of the Mets' meeting with Zito come to light, it's apparent the free-agent ace doesn't seem anywhere close to choosing a team. Someone familiar with the Mets' plans told The Post that the club hasn't yet made an official offer to the 28-year-old lefty, contrary to what Scott Boras reportedly told the AP on Wednesday night.

"We've gotten offers from every team we've dealt with," Boras said. "We're past the preliminary meet-and-greet stages." In reality, the Mets still had yet to make an offer by the end of business yesterday, according to the source. And when asked about a timetable, the response was to contact Boras, who has not returned repeated calls from The Post. There are no plans for Zito to visit New York at the moment, the source said, and uncertainty whether he wants to. The subject didn't come up during Tuesday's meeting. Continue

Mets might make pitch for Suppan

Even if the Mets engaged in sunny negotiations with Barry Zito and his agent, Scott Boras, in Los Angeles, there are still storm clouds on the horizon. Zito's number of suitors has grown this week, and the Mets' primary competitor is taking the bull by the horns.

Perhaps that's why team officials met with free agent pitcher Jeff Suppan and his agent in California yesterday morning, the Mets confirmed last night. According to one report, they also contacted Mark Mulder's agent, too. Mets officials flew home yesterday after a second day of meetings, this time with the former Cardinals righty who helped beat them in the NLCS. Front-office officials would not comment on any negotiations, a spokesman said, but a report stated their initial meeting with Boras and Zito was "productive and encouraging." Continue

Zito's slip is showing

There is doubt steeped all over Barry Zito's situation. Primarily, it is doubt about whether he would take less money in New York or more money in Texas. But there also is doubt about the pitcher himself: Whether he's already slipping, whether he's worth a six-year contract and whether the Mets would be making the right move in signing him.

As Met officials huddled with Zito and agent Scott Boras yesterday in greater Los Angeles, baseball sources were finishing a portrait of Zito, a 2002 Cy Young Award winner, as anything but a sure thing. "I don't know if he cuts it in New York," one insider who knows Zito flatly told The Post. Continue