With about a month until pitchers and catchers. The mets management is gathering in Port St. Lucie to try and finish off putting the 2010 roster together. Coincidently, the two positions they are looking at is ‘Pitchers and Catchers’. The Mets are keeping a close on on Ben Sheets. Although Sheets did not pitch in all of 2009 due to elbow surgery. He is still eying a big time one year contract. He will most likely end up in Oakland or Texas.

On the other hand, Smoltz is someone the Mets are more likely to sign for that number 2 spot behind Johan in the rotation. At 42 years old, who knows what is impact could be on the mound. He would be a great person to have around in the club house.

The Mets made a move today trading bullpen suspect Brian Stokes to the Angels for one time decent player Gary Matthews Jr. Matthews has never been what one would call an overachiever. Always seemed to have decent skills but never put them to work. His biggest season coming with the Rangers in 2006 hitting 19 home runs and 79 RBI’s.

It is a good pick up for what the Mets need. They obviously don’t have any use for Stokes. Matthews can cover center field in the first month of the season when Carlos Beltran will still be rehabbing his bum leg. The best part of this deal is that it seems the Angels will cover a good portion of the money that is owed to Matthews.

On a side note. Matthews had his name mentioned in the Mitchell report. Word is that he was shipped HGH. He never admitted to ever using. Who knows and who cares if he is on the list of positive testers from that list in 2003. He never broke any records and he never will.

Today it was announced that Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame. I am an 80’s child. My favorite glove playing little league was an outfielders glove that was red. It had the signature of Darryl Strawberry inside. On the back of all my little league baseball cards it asked who my favorite player was. It of course read Darryl Strawberry. Little did I know, as a 10 year old playing on the fields of Amity Baseball Little League in Brooklyn, NY. That my favorite player was an outright crack head. GOD, Those were the good old days. I remember the games when “Dwight Was Right At Night”, this is a saying that my dad used when we would watch games at night on TV. Dwight Gooden would dominate opponents with his fastball. Little did I know he was a crack head. Two of my favorite players at the time. I never knew they were both headed for the big house.   One thing I do have to be thankful for. These felons gave me my last taste of championship baseball for a die hard Mets fan.

On a side note. Davey Johnson and Frank Cashen are getting in as well. The Manager and GM team that brought the players together in 86′. With this wild bunch. You have to give a ton of credit to these guys for holding it down.

Today the Mets have announced a 1 year agreement with outfielder Jeff Francoeur for $5.5 Million dollars. I think this is a good decision. Francoeur has always been called out for his play while he was in Atlanta. It seemed he was an underachiever until he joined the Mets last year in a trade for outfielder Ryan Church. This was probably the best move the Mets made all season last year. For some reason coming to the big city he came out of his shell hitting .311 with 20 doubles, 10 homers and 41 RBI in 75 games making him a crown favorite. Hopefully he keeps up the good work.

Now this is some exciting news…… John Maine came to terms with the Mets for $3.3 Million. Lets hope, for some reason that he has a good season. Even though he has only had one good season in his career. And by season I mean pitching a decent amount of games, being over .500 and having an ERA under 4.

Lets me realistic. This guy is nothing more then average at best. Hopefully they can trade him and someone else for a real pitcher.

The word is out. Mets are pretty close to signing a deal with aged veteran catcher Benji Molina. It was initially said Molina was looking for a three year deal but that does not seem very likely based on his age. I would think it would be more like two years although one year could be an option. I would think that the two years would give them more time for him to work with the younger guys in there pitching staff as well as there young up and coming catcher Josh Thole.

Molina hit .265 last year with 20 homers and 80 RBI’s. He adds a little power to the batting order. This was a big issue for the Mets last year. When Daniel Murphy is your home run leader. You know you have a problem.

Lets hope this happens soon

It is true. Jason Bay passed his physical this morning. He is officially a Met. I wonder if this will cause him to suck like the rest of the team. There will be a press conference at Citi Field tomorrow morning to make the announcement. I should show up and try to get a press pass.