According to Marc Carig of Newsday, the Mets are now kicking the tires on Joe Saunders. He reports that they are still discussing Carl Pavano and Chris Young, as well as Shaun Marcum. Saunders would be a nice addition to the Mets rotation, and could easily slot into the number four or five spot. He has a career record of 78-65, and was solid for the Orioles this past season, pitching to a 3.63 ERA after being acquired [...]

Buster Olney, in his latest column for ESPN Insider, takes a look at what free agents are still available out there including some low cost names that can plug a hole or round out some rosters. Right now you still have Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Rafael Soriano and Kyle Lohse as the top names out there, but there’s still some quality in the second and third tiers of free agents remaining, he says. Top among those players is Scott Hairston. Scott [...]

When Sandy Alderson was named Mets’ GM, it was to be a financial caretaker of the floundering franchise. I was critical of the R.A. Dickey trade because I believe their words of wanting to sign him were hollow and I still think that, but in fairness, I recognize Alderson was not dealing from a position of strength or leverage. There was a lot of criticism of Alderson the past two weeks, but again, in fairness, [...]

With the Mets still on the hunt for an outfield, we received the following e-mail from Phil: I can’t believe the Mets haven’t traded for Josh Willingham yet. After some injury issues he averaged .253/.350/.501 with 64 HRs the last two years. At worst, he’s slightly better defensively than Duda. I kept hearing the Twins would be looking for a #4 or 5 pitcher in return. Isn’t two years of Willingham worth a Dillon Gee? Or Familia [...]

Francisco Liriano has agreed to a two year, $14 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to a source. The deal will be finalized once Liriano passes a physical. The Mets were reportedly interested in the lefthanded Liriano who has been beset by injuries since his breakthrough season in 2006 when he 12-3 with a  2.16 ERA for the Twins. Liriano, 29, started the 2012 season with the Minnesota Twins before being dealt to the [...]

I watched an episode of the Simpsons not too long ago as they parodied Moneyball (the movie). It left me wondering whether some of these sabermetric gurus really believe they have the data to invent and reinvent winning formulas by selecting from hundreds of traits and hand picking numerical outliers? Professor Frink of course was the brain behind Lisa’s reliance on statistics as she took over managing Bart’s little league team with great success, but [...]

A construction crew will be removing the Digital Domain sign from the New York Mets’ spring training home on Friday morning, according to a report on TC Palm. No new naming rights deal has been announced to replace Digital Domain who filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 11. The company bought naming rights to the stadium in March 2010. The company agreed to pay St. Lucie County $100,000 in 2012 as part of the contract set to expire [...]

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, multiple sources say the Mets have expressed interest in starting pitchers and have reached out to free agents Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Chris Young, and Shaun Marcum. The Mets may also be exploring a trade with the Dodgers who are shopping Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang. Puma says that any decision the Mets make for starting pitching likely wont happen until after the new year, with the hope that asking prices drop..The Mets [...]

R.A. Dickey’s Cy Young Award and 20 wins don’t count as  highlights as far as the official Mets 2012 Highlights video is concerned. That is how Andy Martino of the Daily News puts it  In a video posted this week on the Mets official website, and emailed to fans, the team sent along holiday wishes, and presented a brief montage of highlights from the 2012 season. It was all there, from Johan Santana’s June 1 [...]