Quick note on the developing Gary Matthews Jr. trade: If you remember the magical start to the 2002 season,  Sarge Jr was wearing No. 25 for all of one turn at bat and one pinch-running appearance before being traded to the Orioles. No. 25 subsequently went to Scott Strickland when he was acquired days later.

Today, 25 belongs to Pedro Feliciano, and so unless Pedro cares to make a mind-boggling fourth uni-switch in his Mets career, matthews can find something else to wear. He was 24 in his ill-fated adventure with the Angels.

I'm not ready to say this move (reportedly for reliever Brian Stokes with the Angels paying all but $4 million $2 million remaining on Matthews's contract) completely spoils the "No Stupid Moves" theme for this offseason but it's not terribly great either. I am thankful they dodged the Bengie Molina bullet, and still think they'll look for a pitcher via the trade market especially after letting Joel Piniero go. F all once and future Cardinals.

As for Stokes, he did a pretty nice job amid meager expectations, but I think it's good practice in general to shuffle these middle-reliever and bench types in and out with some degree of frequency.

The Times this afternoon reports that the Mets are close to a deal with Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi of the Yakult Swallows. From what I've read Igarashi is either a righthander with a deceptive motion and good control, or a wild righty who throws mad heat, but should be considered to be a late-inning relief candidate in any disguise. All the photos I've seen indicates he prefers to wear No. 53, which happens to be Jerry Manuel's number. In other words, if the Mets don't get off to a hot start, he can have it on Memorial Day.

 

I made the mistake of listening to WFAN while I moved the car last night and was blown away by the fire of stupidity Mike Francessa was stoking among fans competing with one another to be the most wounded by the news that the Phillies were to acquire Roy Halladay (at the cost of Cliff Lee, a multiyear, multimillion extension and some prospects) and the Red Sox had signed John Lackey for five years and $85 million. Ira on the Car Phone announced his intention to stay away from CitiField forever and demanded the Mets part with Jose Reyes (cuz we need less offense) while Francessa just let him talk.

 

Now.

 

My confidence in the Mets' ability to do the right thing for the club is shaky at best, but that's mainly due to those occasions when they kowtow to the demands of Francessa's listeners and columnist hacks like John Harper of the Daily News (THE METS MUST SIGN LACKEY he demands as hunting season opens and "THE METS NEVER HAD A CHANCE" he taunts at the end). The JJ Putz trade, which I'll never stop maligning, was a perfect example. If this tricky offseason has shown anything so far it's that the Mets haven't turned themselves inside out only to create the illusion they've solved their problems or to win a meaningless competition to make the biggest offseason splash.

 

They can certainly do a better job standing up for themselves in the meantime, but I'm glad they aren't getting pushed around, so far. Kudos too to the Phils for boldly making the moves they feel they have to to stay on top. It wouldn't be any fun to know your opponents weren't also trying.

 

The Mets today said that bitching about changes to the 2010 uniforms will begin in December, later than originally scheduled, but timed to coincide with the period during which fans will bitch about the players acquired to wear them, so it will all work out.

 

With that in mind, the following chart may help you navigate the upcoming shopping season, with a selection of free agents and potential tredees mentioned in recent rumors and speculation, their most recent uni number, and our analysis of the chances they maintain it with the Mets.

Apologies for the ugly chart. They don't pay me enough here to fix it.

 

Rumored Guy     Current Team    Uni No.     Available?     Notes

 

Joel Pineiro        St. Louis   35    Sorta     Technically belongs to Lance Broadway

Brandon Phillips Cincinnati   4     Yes       Wilson Valdez not on the 40

Aaron Harang     Cincinnati   39   No         Bobby Parnell could switch

Matt Holliday     St. Louis     5/15 Neither  Wright and Beltran won’t switch

Jason Bay         Boston       44   Sort of    Tim Redding cannot make demands

John Lackey     Anaheim     41    Nope     Don’t ask

Ryan Doumit     Pittsburgh   41   No         See Above

Randy Wolf       Los Angeles 21 Yes         Delgado won’t return

Jason Marquis  Colorado 21 Yes         See above

Roy Halladay     Toronto     32   Yes         Unissued in 2009

Benji Molina     San Francisco 1 No         For now; Castillo is rumored to go

 

Just a brief message to note Nick Evans is back with the Mets after Fernando Martinez was sent to AAA after a short, semi-successful tryout. You'll remember Evans wore No. 6 in his runs with the Mets last season but after nearly making the club out of spring training (only Gary Sheffield's late arrival cost him) Evans suffered a brutal start at AAA Buffalo and was sent to see psychologists and Binghamton instead and in the in-between Ramon Martinez got a brief infield gig wearing No. 6.

We'll let you know what he shows up in -- I would guess 6 just for its ubiquitousness but then things could get interesting (for me at least) if and when Marttinez reappears, since he's already been in tweo numbers.

(Thanks to Gene for the awesome headline)

Today the Mets recalled Fernando Nieve from AAA Buffalo to take the place of JJ Putz who finally stopped pretending there wasn't something wrong with his arm. Nieve has reportedly been assigned No. 38. Nieve wore No. 50 in spring training, but that number went to Sean Green once Green decided he was unworthy of comparisons to Aaron Heilman (how right he was) and swapped in No. 48.

Not to say I told you so but we smelled trouble long before this Putz-Green-Heilman deal ever got done inasmuch as "addition by subtraction" is a concept that works great in opinion columns and talk radio but rarely on the baseball field. I'm not saying that time hadn't come to swap away Heilman (not to mention Endy Chavez, Joe Smith, Jason Vargas, Makiel Cleto,and Mike Carp) but seeing as we're looking at a $9 million fat guy having elbow surgery, a righty specialist who's already lost his job, and a reserve outfielder, this whole deal is looking pretty much like "subtraction by subtraction" so far.

Nieve by the way will be the third Fernando in uniform for the Mets, which has to be some kind of record.

Watching the Met debut of Tim Redding, who tonight will become the 860th Met of all-time.

Redding will be suited up in No. 44 -- which belonged to four different guys last year, none of whom I could have told you had I not just looked it up myself, I don't think. If you're interested in making a guess in the comments section, go ahead, I won't say who they are.

Redding's accompanying lineup is a little goofy -- a continuation of the stuff we saw last night where Fernando Tatis played short and Jerry Manuel, once again, made a baffling pinch-hitting call that blew up his face with the game on the line. Yet, Angel Pagan starts tonight in left while Daniel Murphy and Ryan "Doghouse" Church once again sit.

The shortstop is Ramon Martinez, called up because of a thumb injury to Alex Cora who is going onto the DL today too and Jose Reyes is still unavailable (Mackey Shillstone?). You might remember Martinez as the only Met who could buy a hit in the last week of the season last yea. He was wearing No. 22 then but with that jersey since reassigned to JJ Putz, we'll have to wait and see what he turns up in. (Updated: He's wearing No. 26)

Seems like only a moment ago I was praising the flexibility of this roster but this is about as stretched out as I'd like to go right now. Carlos Delgado, you may have heard, is on his way to the operating room and I can't imagine he reappears until August or so.

Redding's recall, by the way, meant another demotion for Nelson Figueroa -- who came and went without an appearance -- and a continuing tour for Ken Takahashi.

Right you are, Ken.

Let me start by saying Sean Green is welcome to request any number he desires and for any reason he wants.So if he prefers 50 to 48, then fine. But, couldn't he do it in a way that wasn't unkind to a guy whose career to this point he ought to be aspiring to and not passively disrespecting? I mean, come on, Sean. Make up a story about your Mom's birthday or something. No need to pile on poor Aaron Heilman. He's suffered enough. (He's pitching for the Cubs as a I write this -- wearing No. 47 in the 8th inning of a tie game at Houston).

 

 

 

And if you really wanted to disassociate yourself from a recent disappointing Mets reliever, could you do any worse than selecting the number worn last by Duaner Sanchez? The guy whose brilliant half-season ended in a mysterious car accident, and who then showed up out-of-shape for camp, and who was nowhere to be found in the hour of the Mets' greatest need last season?

But I'm not here to bury Sanchez either. I wish him well in San Diego, -- he made the team -- and is still wearing No. 50. I'll admit I chucked when I saw Scott Schoeneweis in his first appearance for the D-Backs yesterday surrendered a home run, but I'm not going to boo the next guy who wears No. 60 for the Mets. What's the use?

.

This morning's Daily News reports that Sean Green -- the reliever acquired in the Heilman/Chavez-Putz deal and assigned the same No. 48 previously issued to Aaron Heilman -- has requested a new uniform before opening day .

Green, according to the article requested the change fearing fans will associate the number with Heilman and presumably, exhibit the same appalling lack of support and sportsmanship they showed Heilman last year when he struggled. Beside the fact that the Met fan behavior has devolved to a point where that scenario is entirely possible, it sure is ironic that the same fans will likely applaud this act of cowardice from their newest reliever. They are also no doubt the same fans demanding the Mets take numbers out of circulation for accomplished players as well.

To be fair to Green, his number in Seattle, 54, was already occupied by coach Dave Racianello when he arrived, though it's not as if he possessed the brand equity to dictate that stuff to his new club either.

Anyhow, with the roster now set barring injury, etc., the following numbers appear to be available should Green want one of them: 10, 12, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35, 38, 45, 47, 49 and 50. Many of those numbers would be reserved for those assigned to the minor leagues, so the likely candidates, in my estimation, would be 30 (vacated by Rocky Cherry) or 38 (formerly Tom Martin). Those numbers have cooties too, Green.

We'll stay on top of this developing story, you can be sure.

Although recent roster cuts bled the organization of lefties including veterans Ron Villone and Valerio de los Santos, the team hasn't stopped searching for Portside depth. On Monday, word came they signed Japanaese veteran Ken Takahashi to a minor league contract. Takahashi, who was recently released after an unsuccesful audition with the Blue Jays, is expected to report to Class AAA Buffalo. YouTube video out there shows him pitching for his former Hiroshima team wearing No. 22, now on the back of JJ Putz.

Elsewhere, looks like Rule 5 sidewinder Darren O'Day may sweat out the final bullpen slot, with Elmer Dessens and Fernando Nieve his competitors.

Very busy with travel recently, but I plan to resume with the Top 10 countdown after we get through Opening Day: We'll try to have the new rosters set, new player pages added, etc., later this week.

Thanks to several emails, eyewitness accounts and comments over the last few days I've been alerted to updates with the Mets' spring training roster, and rather than continually update the one below I'll publish a new one here.

The interesting change is Alex Cora and Cory Sullivan having switched the 12 and 3 jerseys, respectively. I think in a general sense that's how it should be: The infielders in single-digits and the outfielders not, at least where you can help it. This really wasn't a switch so much as an adjustment from the paper numbers they were assigned.

Looks like, without Pedro coming to town, 45 could go to whichever pitcher now in the high 50s or low 60s makes the squad, and/or to Tony Armas who I understand may be late arriving due to visa problems.

Still need the uni numbers for the coaches whenever they roll in, but we have a good idea where they will fit in.

 

1 Luis Castillo, 2B

2 Sandy Alomar Sr. (coach)

3 Alex Cora, INF

-- switched from Sullivan

4 Robinson Cancel, C

5 David Wright, 3B

6 Nick Evans, OF

7 Jose Reyes, SS

8 Vacant (Carter)

9 Marlon Anderson

10 Andy Green, INF

11 Ramon Castro, C

12 Cory Sullivan, OF

-- Was assigned to Cora initially

13 Billy Wagner, P

14 Retired (Gil Hodes)

15 Carlos Beltran, OF

16 Angel Pagan, OF

17 Fernando Tatis

18 Jeremy Reed, OF

19 Ryan Church, OF

20 Howard Johnson, coach

21 Carlos Delgado, 1B

22 JJ Putz, RP

23 Brian Schneider, C

24 Vacant (Mays)

25 Pedro Feliciano, P

26 Rob Mackowiak, OF

27 Nelson Figueroa, P

28 Daniel Murphy, OF

29 Connor Robertson, P

30 Rocky Cherry, P

31 Vacant (Piazza)

32 Carlos Muniz, P

33 John Maine, P

34 Mike Pelfrey, P

35 Brandon Knight, P

36 Darren O'Day, P

37 Retired (Stengel)

38 Tom Martin, P

39 Bobby Parnell, P

40 Eddie Kunz, P

41 Retired (Seaver)

42 Retired (Robinson)

43 Brian Stokes, P

44 Tim Redding, P

45 Vacant

46 Oliver Perez, P

47 Casey Fossum, P

48 Sean Green, P

49 Jonathon Niese, P

50 Duaner Sanchez, P

51 Luis Alicea, coach

52 Razor Shines, coach

53 Jerry Manuel, Manager

54 Dave Racianello, bullpen catcher

55 Randy Niemann, coach

56 Freddy Garcia, P

57 Johan Santana, P

58 Sandy Alomar Jr., coach

59 Dan Warthen, coach

60 Valerio De Los Santos, P

61 Livan Hernandez, P

62 Bobby Keilty, OF

63 Michel Abreu, 1B

64 Elmer Dessens, P

65 Kyle Snyder, P

66 Matt DeSalvo, P

67 Fernando Martinez, OF

68 Heriberto Ruelas, P

69 Vacant (according to MBTN contributor Jason, this number is retired in honor of the 1969 World Champions but probably also to save unnecessary clubhouse and bleacher abuse)

70 Jon Switzer, P

71 Toby Stoner, P

72 Adam Bostick, P

73 Dillon Gee, P

74 Michael Antonini, P

75 Francisco Rodriguez, P

76 Omir Santos, C

77 Rene Rivera, C

78 Josh Thole, C

79 Jose Coronado, INF

**

90 Ramon Martinez, INF

91 Tony Armas, P

99 Jose Valentin, 2B