Updated on 12/2  by Joe D. at 4:45 PM Jim Bowden of ESPN XM tweets that despite RA Dickey describing progress in negotiations…a source involved in negotiations says both sides aren’t even close to a deal Updated on 12/2  by Joe D. at 2:45 PM Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, reported that R.A. Dickey has just arrived at the Winter Meetings. Dickey, who lives in Nashville, has repeatedly said he would attempt to sit in [...]

They’ll start showing up today for the Winter Meetings, and when they do, the Mets will have a lot on their plate, but little hope of cleaning it. Their first priority, now that David Wright is done, will be to extend R.A. Dickey’s contract. Dickey prefers three years, but would take two if the dollars are higher. You can bet Dickey’s agents will point to the $12-million, one-year deal the Yankees offered Andy Pettitte. Although [...]

At first glance, the eight-year, $138 million deal David Wright signed early Friday morning didn’t appeal to many. Originally, reports indicated that the Mets wanted to offer a little less than $120 million, and the Wright camp started out well above $140 million, so I was very surprised that the two sides settled for such a high amount. However, when you dig deeper into the deal, it looks like more of a bargain than I, [...]

Updated Post 12/2 Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes that no less than seven teams have interest in Mike Pelfrey, adding that there is a need for mid-level starters even if they are coming off Tommy John surgery. The Mets non-tendered Pelfrey on Friday which you can read more about below. Updated Post 11/30 The Mets have officially parted ways with former first-round pick Mike Pelfrey. The team declined to offer him a contract before Friday night’s [...]

The calls started to come the other night from other Hall of Fame writers asking if I intended to vote for Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa. As a Hall of Fame voter the past decade I take the responsibility seriously. Because of their connection to performance enhancing drugs, I did not vote for Mark McGwire or Rafael Palmeiro, the latter whom I covered when he was with the Orioles. Palmeiro certainly [...]

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets are expected to at least consider free agent OF Cody Ross during the Winter Meetings, but he might be too expensive. Angel Pagan and Shane Victorino will also be considered, but could also be out of the Mets price range. The Mets could try and get creative and perhaps dangle Jon Niese as trade bait for a legitimate starting outfielder. In an ideal scenario, he writes, [...]

Jayson Stark of ESPN, has his Winter Meetings preview up this morning with lots of good information to digest. Additionally, he surveyed 17 prominent executives, agents and scouts about the hot baseball storylines that are about to explode over the next week. Who’s most likely to get traded? Who’s the best bet to get traded during the winter meetings? We posed that question and got this response (with some panelists picking multiple players): James Shields – [...]

Marc Carig of Newsday writes that the Mets will be more willing to get creative with backloaded contracts, according to a person with knowledge of the team’s thinking, in order to entice free agents with more money and multi-year offers. Those tactics could come into play at this week’s winter meetings in Nashville. “You can borrow some from the future,” said a person with knowledge, who called finding an outfielder the team’s priority. According to [...]

I am very happy that David Wright will be a New York Met for the rest of his playing days. For a while I was quite skeptical that a deal would materialize, considering all the inaccuracies and inconsistencies that were being reported by sources. But the two sides worked diligently through the night until the wee hours of the morning to come to an agreement before the Winter Meetings kickoff in Nashville on Sunday. In that sense, we [...]

On Monday all 30 GMs, along with a handful of players, agents, and other baseball folks, will all come together in R.A. Dickey’s hometown of Nashville, TN for the Winter Meetings. Personally, this is one of my favorite weeks in all of baseball. This is when the Hot Stove really gets cooking, so all you crabby Mets fans who keep complaining the front office isn’t doing anything can stop whining now (if the David Wright extension wasn’t [...]