Jim Leyland’s pitchers have always been aggressive, so perhaps this is just a case of not having control early in spring training.

Nonetheless, it hurts just as much in March as it does in July. It will be interesting to see how the Mets respond if somebody takes one in the ribs today.

Retaliation is tricky at any time, but especially during spring training because players are going in and out of the lineup and pitchers are just trying to make the team. Then again, the solution might be to sign Armando Benitez for the day.

Dillon Gee, today’s starter for the Mets against Detroit in Port St. Lucie, does have a spot in the rotation. Just saying.

Also scheduled to pitch today for the Mets are LaTroy Hawkins, Pedro Feliciano, Greg Burke and Josh Edgin. Today’s lineup is as follows:

1. Jordany Valdespin, lf
2. Justin Turner, 2b
3. Ike Davis, 1b
4. Marlon Byrd, dh
5. Mike Baxter, rf
6. Zach Lutz, 3b
7. Anthony Recker, c
8. Matt den Dekker, cf
9. Ruben Tejada, ss

MORE CUTS COMING: The Mets are expected to option catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud and infielder Wilmer Flores to the minor league camp by Friday. If a player on the 40-man roster is injured within 15 days of Opening Day they qualify for major league service time and pay, and must be placed on the disabled list until they are healed. It’s a financial risk the Mets will not take, especially since neither is expected to make the team.

SANTANA NOT READY: Terry Collins told ESPNNewYork.com yesterday Johan Santana is “not too close,’’ to getting back on the mound.

One has to wonder if Santana’s surprise mound appearance might have set him back. At the time, GM Sandy Alderson was projecting he wouldn’t throw for about ten days.

Whether or not Santana reinjured his shoulder is hard to ascertain, but he didn’t do himself any favors and his progress has been set back.

METS MUSINGS: Outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis could resume baseball activities today, but is still a way from getting into a game. I’ll have something more about Nieuwenhuis’ disappointing spring later. …Daniel Murphy will take batting practice again today and could get into a minor league game this weekend. … I wrote yesterday about the Mets taking a look at outfielder Brennan Boesch. There could be mild interest. Perhaps working against Boesch is his age. At 27, one would assume an upside, but if this is so, why was he released? It can’t just be the strained oblique.

Through the use of the scorecard, let’s take a look at how David Wright did this week:

Despite missing three games due to a pinkie injury, Wright still had two home runs, five runs batted in, and a .571 batting average. During those three games he missed, his impact was noticed, as the Mets went 1-2 without him, while going 5-1 with him. This is the David Wright that we all want playing out there, week in and week out.

Honorable Mentions

These players, although not winning the Player of the Week award, had a very strong showing this week and deserve to be recognized. We will also show how strong a showing they had through the use of the scorecard.

Ruben Tejada

Daniel Murphy

Johan Santana

Jon Niese

Jon Rauch

Frank Francisco

Not So Hot

The Not So Hot area mentions a few players who did not have a good week this week.

Ike Davis

Jason Bay

Miguel Batista

Ramon Ramirez

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

This area shows the scoreboard of the Players of the Week, and who has won already this season and how many times.

1. David Wright – 1

Trivia

To finish off the Player of the Week announcement each week, I’ll be asking you a trivia question. The answer will be announced during the next Player of the Week announcement, as well as the first person who answered correctly. Another question will then be asked. So here is this week’s question:

In the 2000 NLDS, most Met fans remember that Bobby Jones won the clinching Game 4 with a one-hitter, and many fans remember that John Franco saved Game 2 for winning pitcher Armando Benitez to even the series when he struck out Barry Bonds. But what pitcher won game 3 of that NLDS for the Mets?

Two years, two chokes. The Mets have gotten good at this. And, sure, the bullpen was a big issue, so seeing J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez in the eighth and ninth innings will help make Citi Field a far friendlier place in its freshman year. Still, this team gives off the feeling of one that needs to be blown up and started over instead of rejiggering things and hoping the memories of September collapses wane. Those linger. You don’t get rid of ugly artwork by painting over it. You discard the thing. And no one with the Mets seems to have gotten the message that there is trash in dire need of disposal.

Of course, we didn’t expect Putz to miss most of the season.  And let’s face it, K-Rod has been awesome sometimes and like Armando Benitez at times as well.  Injuries, of course, were an X-factor that no one could have predicted, but still, the Mets didn’t exactly play great baseball when everyone was healthy.  Certainly nobody could have also predicted the utter lack of power in the lineup.  What they could have seen coming were the lack of fundamentals, and the lack of any kind of bench whatsoever once key players went down.  Those are things that fall squarely on the shoulders of guys named Jerry and Omar.

Still, blowing up the entire team seems far-fetched and crazy, especially in a major market that demands and deserves to see marquee players.  But the thing is, we also deserve quality baseball, and haven’t exactly received that end of the bargain.  And even if this team (amazingly) finishes second in the NL in batting, they still are last in home runs and near the bottom in RBI.

So while Passan’s idea may have been crazy, you can’t say he was totally wrong.  And now looking ahead to 2010, there are so many question marks, and a window of opportunity with the current core of players that is rapidly starting to shut.  I don’t have the answers, and I’m not sure anyone does.  But we deserve some form of change for the better.