The Mets and Santana are taking no chances. Both sides have a vested interest in being cautious this spring with Santana who had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in the offseason. The Mets ace Johan Santana gets stronger each day, and yesterday he thre from the back mound which the Mets say was a significant step forward. Mike Vaccaro of the NY Post writes, Santana’s 30-pitch debut at the back pitcher’s mound yesterday was the [...]

The following is transcribed from Jerry Manuels press conference this weekend. Q: Would you have Castillo lead off permanently?A: I would never do anything permanently. I’m talking regular season and that depends on how it looks, how it fits, how Jose fits maybe batting second, third, or whatever, there’s a lot of little different things that you can try to accomplish in spring training. Spring training you have some freedom to look at things differently, [...]

Omar Minaya has proved adept at lying in the weeds and swooping in at the right moment to add star power to the Mets.  He used that prudent strategy to sign free agents Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, and this off-season, Frankie Rodriquez.   Ironically, when he deviated, and basically bid against himself, he landed Luis Castillo.  That signing has been a disaster.  But, Minaya can rectify it with one more signing.   Bring in Orlando [...]

Mark Bowman of MLB.com believes that Ken Griffey Jr. could soon be donning a Braves uniform. Still, all indications are that Griffey has certainly made his way to the top of the list of candidates to fill Braves general manager Frank Wren’s need for an outfielder. Griffey could provide more clarity about his future and reach a decision as early as Monday, when he returns to his Orlando-area home, which is located approximately 20 minutes [...]

AP is reporting that Alex Rodriguez has called Sports Illustrated’s Selena Roberts to apologize for critical comments he made during an ESPN interview. Roberts was co-author of the Feb. 7 article on SI’s Web site that reported he was on a list of 104 players who tested positive for steroids during baseball’s anonymous 2003 survey. Rodriguez told ESPN two days later that he had used banned substances from 2001-3 while playing for Texas. “I know [...]

The following has been transcribed from some of the questions from Saturday’s press conference by Jerry Manuel. Q: Was something missing the past two years? A: Again, what’s key is you try to identify what you think was wrong, and the obvious you try to address. But from the position that I sit in, you try to dig a little deeper and find out that, hey, maybe we didn’t play the style or the way [...]

Joel Sherman of the NY Post, reminds us that each season many players who were not available in the off season are there for the taking when a team gets off to a bad start. He mentions Roy Halladay as one potential player that could be moved prior to the trade deadline, but also adds the following short list that the Mets might find appealing. So maybe the Mets outfield corners are not appealing now. Just wait. [...]

As the sun rises on Spring Training 2009, let’s see what is going on with the other teams in the NL East: Atlanta Braves: If there is a team looking to keep Ken Griffey Jr. from returning to Seattle, it could be the Atlanta Braves. They were considering Bobby Abreu before he signed with the Angels. They are looking for a veteran outfielder to split time in LF and to sign reasonably cheap. Griffey does [...]

As per David Lennon of Newsday: The biggest message from Jerry Manuel’s opening remarks this morning was his renewed emphasis on unselfish play for the upcoming season. And the manager immediately put that to the test by suggesting that Jose Reyes may be dropped to the No. 2 spot in the lineup if Manuel believes hitting Luis Castillo leadoff will work the best for the lineup overall. He also said he could possibly use Reyes [...]

Happy Spring Training Mets fans! I can’t wait for the season to begin so the Mets can prove everybody wrong! With the arrival of Spring Training, I’m bringing back the Hot or Not feature. I really can’t judge anyone based on their performance just yet, mainly because half the team is leaving for the World Baseball Classic in a couple of weeks (seriously, they can’t do this in like November or something??). The competition for [...]

Update 10:15 AM The New York Post has confirmed that Livan has indeed signed a minor league deal with the Mets and will be in camp today. Hubbuch also reminds us that Livan is El Duque’s half brother. Original Post 9:58 AM  Christian Red of the Daily News reports: Mets GM Omar Minaya said on Feb. 3 that there would be no more “big moves” prior to the Mets breaking camp in Port St. Lucie this [...]