Should Bannister wish to pay tribute to his dad Floyd, a cursory check through the baseball cards reveals he wore Nos. 19 and 38 in his career: Neither is available except in the case Heath Bell fails to make the roster or is traded -- both possibilities we've read in the last week. Perhaps too, numbers don't matter particularly to Bannister: It appears he wore 25 in Binghamton and 43 at Norfolk; 17 with Team USA and oddly, 3 at USC.

In other news it appears that Anderson Hernandez 1 will get the starting job at second base: Whether he won a competition, or is there to stay, are matters of debate.

Turns out our efforts to confirm Jose Santiago's uni number were worthless -- it appears the Mets either never invited him back and/or actually did then quietly released him before the spring.

Lima Standard Time (March 13): Veteran longshot pitcher Jose Lima arrived at Met camp boasting that he never wears the same suit twice. Apparently he's applying the same rules of fashion to his Met jerseys.

Lima on Saturday suited up No. 17, his third different Met jersey this spring. Lima, you will recall, was issued No. 99 and then spent an afternoon in 42 before the Mets thought better of reissuing the mothballed Jackie Robinson uni and gave him 99 back. In the meantime the Mets sold Dae Sung Koo back to Korea, freeing up 17, in which Lima appeared most recently. For a guy the Mets are likely to bid "auf wiedersehen” to in a matter of weeks, he's kept things interesting on the runway. (Thanks to MBTN reader Jason for the tip).

Jason also reports that coach Jerry Manuel appeared in No. 35, solving the mysery of what number he fled to after Chad Bradford claimed his 53 (below). What number remains for World Baseball Classic-exiled reliever Jose Santiago is still unknown (as is the question of whether he's actually coming back after the tournament is complete). Santiago earlier this spring lost his assigned number 33 to teammate John Maine.

Guess the Number (March 2): More updates and intrigue from St. Lucie: Weepy veteran Bret Boone yesterday turned in his No. 9 jersey and retired. As pictured at left, Chad Bradford was spotted wearing 53, not 35 he was initially issued: That makes sense given his previous stops in Boston and Oakland, but it means a change for coach Jerry Manuel -- only to what we're not sure (thanks Matt for the photo). Readers also checked in with their best guesses as to Jose Santiago's elusive jersey number: Using the process of elimination, one enterprising guy guessed either 52 (though we wouldn't be surprised if Manuel shows up with that one now) or 87 -- all others with the exceptions of 8, 24, 31 and 69 have been issued, with three of those numbers in semi-hibernation. One possibility we've realized by now is Santiago in the 35 we previously thought belonged to Bradford.