We now return you to ‘As The World Turns‘… That should be what each return from a commercial on SNY and WPIX says this exhibition season… I am becoming more concerned as the Mets continue to have more questions than answers each day spring training continues. What drama… We should be getting closer to making cuts. Instead the questions are becoming more pronounced each day. At first base, if Daniel Murphy is starting, he’d better abandoned that more upright [...]

In a new post to his blog, Adam Rubin of the Daily News, analyzes the Mets spring training battles and speculates on the potential Opening Day roster. Regarding the rotation, Adam believes that Jon Niese is still the front-runner to be the team’s fifth starter and writes, The smart money still has Jon Niese claiming the final slot in the rotation over Fernando Nieve, with Hisanori Takahashi only on the fringe of that race, despite the Japanese lefthander slated for a pair of Grapefruit [...]

Update 2:05 PM: Kevin Burkhardt says from what he’s been told Takahashi is NOT a bullpen option because he’s not a power arm plus he struggles against lefties. He’s a Tom Glavine type that either makes the Met SP rotation or is gonna be sent to Buffalo as SP insurance. (hat tip to Sach) Original Post 1:52 PM According to David Waldstein of the NY Times , the Mets appear ready to sign left-hander Hisanori Takahashi [...]

According to this report on MASN Sports, Japanese free agent Hisanori Takahashi has reportedly rejected deals from both the Mets and Orioles. The Mets had actually offered the reliever a Major League contract, but couldn’t reach an agreement on the dollars according to another report appearing on NPB Tracker. I’m a little surprised that the Mets continue to focus so much on the bullpen, especially after signing Chris Everts, Elmer Dessens, Ryota Igarashi, Kelvim Escobar and most recently [...]