Post Updated by Joe D. At 2:20 PM

Andy Martino of the Daily News was told that the Mets want to resolve the Ike Davis situation before potentially demoting Ruben Tejada. He adds that they could also just send both of them down at once.

Earlier today, WFAN’s Mike Francesa said Ike Davis and Ruben Tejada would have been sent to Triple-A after last night’s game had the Mets lost the game, based on what a team source told him.

Francesa also added that Davis and Tejada have been told they need to show “immediate improvement soon” or “they will be demoted.”

I wondered if anyone else found it odd that a win that neither player contributed to spared them both from a demotion, especially Tejada who almost cost us the game – TWICE – last night.

Martino’s news rings more true and makes more sense.

Original Post 9:00 AM

Ike Davis will not be optioned to the Minor Leagues today, according to Mark Hale of the New York Post.

Despite his struggles, Davis will not be demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas before tonight’s game, The Post has learned. He will be with the Mets in The Bronx. The Mets are scheduled to face a righty in David Phelps tonight, so the left-handed hitting Davis — who batted eighth last night — figures to be in the lineup. Lefty Vidal Nuno is scheduled to start tomorrow night, so Davis could be on the bench for that one.

Davis went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts last night, batting eighth for the first time in his career. He’s currently in a 4-for-53 slump with 24 strikeouts during that span. On the season he is now batting 152/.237/.247.

According to this tweet by Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets may have something cooking with the Texas Rangers who are seeking to move outfielder Julio Borbon.

Borbon, 27, was designated for assignment last week and the Rangers have until this afternoon to trade him or place him on irrevocable waivers. He has a slash of .283/.324/.358 over parts of four years in the majors.

Last season, Borbon hit .304/.349/.433 with 23 doubles, eight triples, 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 28 attempts for the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate.

The Orioles have previously been tied to the Rangers outfielder and remain the heavy favorites to land him.

Thoughts from Joe D.

This doesn’t say much about the current Mets center field situation if the Mets connection to this rumor is true. For now the Mets have had a merry-go-round out there that has included Collin Cowgill, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Jordany Valdespin for the most part.

We certainly could use the help, but Borbon doesn’t look like an answer or a solution to me.

Plus if this involves other teams bidding, the odds the Mets come out on top seems like a longshot.

Here’s what Adam Rubin of EspnNewYork reported on Davis:

[blackbirdpie id="89474175135260672"]

According to SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt this is what he had to say on Davis:

[blackbirdpie id="89171076910813184"]

And finally, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated who pointed it that this work will help the Mets and Davis determine whether season ending surgery can be avoided or not:

[blackbirdpie id="89449027363545088"]

Going forward this may not mean much at all, but this will certainly be a positive factor on deciding whether or not the 2^nd year talent will need season ending ankle surgery or not.

This could be the first step in a line a few steps in getting the services of Davis back at some point in 2011. If the Mets can continue to remain in the National League’s Wildcard race somehow, someway, imagine the lineup the Mets could throw out there every day down the stretch.

Combined with a return of a healthy David Wright and Jose Reyes, the Mets would no doubt boast one of the National League’s most feared lineups.

A lineup that would consist of leadoff man Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis, David Wright and Jason Bay would certainly be as formidable as any in the game, something the Mets environed early on in the season.

In just 36 games played this year, Davis is batting .302 with seven home runs and 25 RBI. Those seven home runs are still second on the team, despite Davis being out nearly two months.

Carlos Beltran was just one of four Mets players he listed:

Ollie Perez, Mets SP. The Mets offered him around but there were no takers. They’d like him to go to the minors but he is said to not want to return after spending more than a month down there already this season. Manager Jerry Manuel told Mets people he is loathe to use Perez at home considering the reception he gets at Citi Field. Maybe they can continue to talk about a deal with the Cubs for Carlos Zambrano.

Luis Castillo, Mets 2B. The Mets have been trying to trade him for years, with no success. Has slipped to the point where he isn’t worth close to his $6 million salary.

Jeff Francoeur, Mets OF. With Jason Bay on the shelf with a concussion, it might be hard to deal Francoeur. He’s great in the clubhouse but has continued to be inconsistent offensively, batting just .236 with a .288 on-base percentage.

Carlos Beltran, Mets OF. Great talent who is just back from his knee injury and hasn’t yet showed his old form. He has a full no-trade clause but might be amenable to a deal after his winter disagreement with the team over the knee surgery that kept him out half the year. One more year left in $119 million, seven year deal he signed before the 2005 season.

I understand Heyman’s point on Beltran, but I disagree that the Mets would place him on waivers for two big reasons:

1. If any team were crazy enough to assume the remaining $24 million on his contract, not only would it still have to get approved by Beltran, but there’s a 99% chance that another team could place a claim to block him from being traded as well.

2. Considering all the bad vibes over the knee surgery fiasco, I doubt the Mets would add to it by putting him on waivers knowing fully well there’s no shot they can move him. Better to leave well enough alone.

The best thing for the Mets to do regarding Beltran is to hope he returns to form soon and finshes strong, and that he gives them a huge season in his walk year in 2011.

There were a few other players on the list that could be possible fits for the Mets, most notable among them is Carlos Zambrano who the Mets were reportedly interested in him, but were unwilling to give up any top prospects and wanted to pawn Oliver Perez off on them instead.

I guess now we will see just how interested they really were, being that basically they could get him for a song if they still wanted him.

The Mets’ minor-league system looks a lot better now than most realized last year, when so-called experts rated it near the bottom. Those ratings will need to be re-evaluated now that five young Mets looked very good or better this spring. Left-hander Jon Niese will be the fifth starter (one scout said, “He won’t be No. 5 for long.”), shortstop Ruben Tejada will start the year with the Mets and supremely-talented right-hander Jenrry Mejia may make it as a reliever. GM Omar Minaya was determined not to take Mejia to start the spring, but the momentum seems to be swinging the other way. Plus, Fernando Martinez re-established his value as a bright young outfield prospect and first baseman Ike Davis looked terrific, especially at bat. It’s too late to give ex-Mets exec Tony Bernazard his job back, but if removing his shirt and being impolite once or twice were his only faults, firing him seems like a bad call now.

Ironically, it was Jon Heyman who kept reminding us that we didn’t have the chips for a Roy Halladay deal and made countless jokes at the Mets expense this offseason.

Still, it’s nice to see Heyman come around.

The Mets are probably going to need to trade for a first baseman (more on that below). But in the meantime, few scouts can understand why Daniel Murphy — the former fair-haired boy — isn’t getting a full crack at first base in Carlos Delgado’s absence.

He’s supposedly the “heir apparent” to Delgado at first base (at least that’s what several team honchos decided this winter/spring), and he’s allegedly in the first base rotation. Yet, Murphy has exactly zero starts at first so far.

It’s mind boggling to say the least, and I’m starting to wonder if all those practices at 1B only revealed that Murphy is even more horrific defensively at first base than he is at leftfield.

 Which begs the question; How long can the Mets afford to build around a career designated hitter with limited power?

I can’t wait to see what happens when Murphy meets the Green Monster this weekend… that should be a real treat.

Back to Heyman…

In today’s post, he also included a nice collection of players that could help the Mets in order of likelihood; Nick Johnson, Aubrey Huff, Russell Branyan, Victor Martinez/Mark DeRosa, and Garrett Atkins.

I looked back at some of his past articles this season and wondered what if the Mets had listened and grabbed a real gamer like Raul Ibanez? What if the Mets had heeded his advice and grabbed Orlando Hudson with a heavily discounted deal? Heyman reported that Hudson was openly lobbying to play for the Mets. 

Omar gets a ton of credit for signing K-Rod, but lets be real… He would have signed with the Mets even if Mr. Met was running the show.

Early in the off-season, Heyman predicted that Lowe would end up on the Mets for 4-years/$56 MM and although he ended up on the Braves, the numbers were amazingly close. The fact he didn’t end up a Met because of the 4th year, could end up haunting us.

Randy Wolf would be looking a heck of a lot better in our rotation if we had heeded his advice, instead of signing the enigmatic Oliver Perez, a deal that had the Mets bidding against themselves.

Hey Jon, I know that the last thing you need is a headache as large as our homerun apple, but couldn’t you just fax your resume to the Mets HR Department just for the heck of it?

We are all a hopeful bunch, but still “glass empty” type of fans for the most part. All of that said, we could always count on the Mets hierarchy to blow smoke up our behinds and tell us what we want and what we need to hear.

But, now I read that the Mets higher-ups are concerned about the makeup of the team? Could this be true?

Jon Heyman of SI.com and frequent analyst on SNY, write this in his latest column.

But while Mets people are all understandably thrilled to be in their comfy new confines, a slow start that has revealed weaknesses in the team’s rotation, defense and lineup has offset the jubilation. Although the new season is just seven days old, Mets people seem genuinely dismayed.

“We have a good team … on paper, anyway,” lamented one top Mets decision maker.

Heyman, also sheds some light on Jerry Manuel who was very concerned and even saddened about the team defense and lack of fire. And that was before the Ryan Church dropped flyball which led to another loss.

Finally he outlines HIS own areas of concerns which number four.

1. The defense looks slipshod. There’s no excuse for back-to-back games in which players drop routine fly balls, though it’s possible Church is still getting acclimated to what looks like a difficult right field. And by the way, Gary Sheffield is not going to help there. Manuel intends to give Sheffield starts in right and perhaps even left, but only to keep him sharp, as Sheffield, 40, himself admitted he’s concerned about his outfield play after a whole year away. “He can’t play the field anymore,” one scout said, flat out.

2. There are a few issues with the starting pitchers, too. Yes, Johan Santana looks more terrific than ever, Livan Hernandez turned in a nice Mets debut and John Maine was solid the first time out after a dreadful spring in which higher-ups questioned whether he had lost his confidence, but Oliver Perez struggled badly out of the stretch in his outing and Mike Pelfrey hasn’t yet shown the dominant stuff he flashed last year.

3. The offense is underachieving. One Mets exec remarked that the Padres’ Mexico League reclamation project Walter Silva shut them down “on nothing” before Wright’s three-run home run put them in business — at least until three Padres’ relievers, including Duaner Sanchez, whom the Mets released in spring, did the same.

4. There isn’t enough fire. Another Mets person said the players seem to “lack a killer instinct” so far, which might reflect leftover feelings from their two straight September fades.

So there it is, from the Mets’ baseball guru and baseball insider himself, as SNY likes to refer to him.