Mets baseball blog

Mets look to farm prospects to lure Street, Putz

Francisco Rodriguez's agent will be at the general managers' meetings next week in Dana Point, Calif., and the representative for Brian Fuentes likely will be there, too. The Mets have little to lose by meeting with both in their search for Billy Wagner's replacement. But the Mets, wary of the high price of the relievers, also will explore other avenues to reach their goal. They believe they have a deep enough farm system to trade prospects for a reliever, if the right scenario presents itself.

The obvious candidates are Seattle's J.J. Putz and Oakland's Huston Street. Other possibilities include Baltimore's George Sherrill, Kansas City's Joakim Soria and Florida's Kevin Gregg; the Marlins are going to need to trade some of their many arbitration-eligible players, and this Marlins front office conducted business with the Mets three years ago with theCarlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca trades. Continue

Jerry Manuel makes Razor Shines Mets' third base coach

Razor Shines, a former minor-league teammate of Jerry Manuel, will join the Mets' staff as third base coach. The second newcomer to the staff will be Randy Niemann, most recently the organization's injury rehab coordinator in Port St. Lucie. Niemann, who pitched in 41 games for the Mets from 1985-87, succeeds Guy Conti as bullpen coach.

There will be four holdovers from the '08 staff: bench coach Sandy Alomar Sr., hitting coach Howard Johnson, pitching coach Dan Warthen and catching instructor Sandy Alomar Jr. Continue

Mets target Lowe, Fuentes

The Mets plan on targeting Derek Lowe and Brian Fuentes in the free agent market, an NL executive who has talked to team officials told the Post. The Mets are promising to be creative and explore many avenues. But Lowe (a dependable innings eater) and Fuentes (a proven closer) fit the Mets' top two needs, and are going to be pursued by the organization this offseason.

Lowe, 35, has made at least 32 starts and won at least 12 games in each of the past seven seasons. He is a groundball artist and has experience in the Northeast/playoff cauldron for the Red Sox. He is a Scott Boras client who will have plenty of suitors, including the Yankees, and probably will take well into the offseason to sign. Continue

HoJo to stick on Mets' staff as Rockies wooing Willie Randolph

Howard Johnson, Dan Warthen and Sandy Alomar Sr. are expected to be asked to return to the Mets' coaching staff in 2009, while Willie Randolph's job opportunities continue to expand.

The Daily News has learned that the Colorado Rockies have approached Randolph about becoming Clint Hurdle's bench coach. Randolph already has been approached by the Nationals about their bench and third base coaching vacancies. The former Mets manager is also a candidate for the Brewers' managerial job, and it's believed he interviewed with Milwaukee on Tuesday. Continue

Mets, Yankees not likely to get Peavy

It appears increasingly likely that the Padres will trade Jake Peavy. But neither the Yankees nor the Mets rank among the favorites to land the 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner.

Peavy, armed with a no-trade clause, already has indicated to the Padres the teams to which he would accept a trade, agent Barry Axelrod told Newsday yesterday. He has a full no-trade clause and five years and $81 million left on his contract, assuming he insists that his new club pick up the $22-million team option for 2013. Continue

Willie Randolph on Brewers' short list

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today speculates that Brewers GM Doug Melvin has put Willie Randolph on the short list of candidates to become Milwaukee's manager. The Brewers fired Ned Yost with 12 games to go this season and replaced him with Dale Sveum. Continue

Mets deeply regret letting Kazmir go to Rays

Five years ago last night, the Red Sox's 2003 season ended in stunning fashion, and Red Sox Nation added a new name to its list of enemies: Aaron "Bleeping" Boone. When another Red Sox season was on the brink of doom last night at Fenway Park, you couldn't find bona fide heartbreak anywhere in New England. No, with The Curse long ago exorcised, with a bevy of promising young players, Red Sox Nation will be just fine, even if they lose in Game 6 or 7. If you want to find an aggravated fan base, turn to Flushing. For Scott Kazmir is now a big-game pitcher. Continue

Mets need a re-Phil in pen

Painful as it may be to watch, the Mets should take hope in the Phillies' World Series run. All they need to do is follow the lead of their division rivals and make a trade this winter for a closer who can go 46-for-46 in save opportunities, and counting. Uh, good luck with that. In retrospect it seems remarkable that the Phillies were able to deal for a premier closer, and do it by giving up players they were not counting on this season - center fielder Michael Bourn, middle reliever Geoff Geary and infield prospect Mike Costanzo. Continue

Wright making sure collapse doesn't happen again

Losing a playoff berth on the final day of the season for the second straight year doesn't sit well with David Wright. The "bitter taste" of failure, as he described it, is why he's already begun his offseason workout regimen and has watched only about five innings of postseason baseball.

"It's going to be a long offseason, no doubt," Wright said. "But when you fail, it pushes you and motivates you to work that much harder to make sure the same thing doesn't happen next year. You try to better yourself as much as possible." Continue

Shea what? Manny Ramirez muses over Mets' flop

Trailing two games to none in the NLCS hasn't dampened Manny Ramirez's personality. A relaxed and bubbly Ramirez engaged New York reporters during a workout day at Dodger Stadium Saturday, inquiring about what led to the Mets' late-season swoon and revealing that he had chatted with Pedro Martinez on Friday.

Ramirez, a free-agent-to-be since Dodgers management agreed to discard $20 million options for 2009 and 2010 upon his acquisition from Boston, didn't seriously speak about his winter plans. But the 36-year-old Ramirez, who is 8-for-18 with three homers, seven RBI and five walks through five playoff games against the Cubs and Phillies, not-too-seriously noted about his pending free agency off this postseason showing: "Maybe I can get a six-year deal." Continue