Power Hungry

Oh baby, some anonymous poster left this last night:

Just heard on WFAN that a deal for Soriano is close. I didn’t hear the whole thing, but it involves Heilman.

This is from Newsday:

The Rangers have clearly tired of Alfonso Soriano's act. One team official said that they would trade Soriano for "something decent."

and from Joel Sherman:

Rival executives say Omar Minaya is obsessed to find the Mets a power bat at first or right field either in this trade market or in the off-season. Paul Konerko is a free agent whom Minaya likes. But the most intriguing player will again be Manny Ramirez.

Just like he did with Sammy Sosa, Minaya has an infatuation with Ramirez's bat. Ramirez's disappearance into the Green Monster while the game was in play last week just added to the litany of reasons why the Red Sox are tired of his act even with his prodigious offense. Remember, this was a guy they put on waivers two years ago and were willing to give up for nothing.

After this season, Ramirez will have three years at $57 million left that will take a thickening, non-defender to age 36. Tom Glavine, who is almost certain to vest his $10 million option for next year, would accept a trade to Boston. Are there the roots of a trade there?

The buzz on Soriano in another article from Newsday was that the Rangers are buyers since they are still in the playoff hunt and both of these deals are geared more towards the off-season since there is no way Boston trades Manny Ramirez while they are in first place. However, one thing is clear, Omar knows what everyone else knows and the Mets need to add a big bat and none seem to be available right now with an outside possibility of Adam Dunn. I guess we will see what Omar has up his sleeve.

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Minor update:

• Norfolk lost to Richmond 4-2. Brian Bannister had a decent outing giving up four earned runs over seven innings. He gave up nine hits, no walks, and struck out eight. Anderson Hernandez keeps coming back to Earth and went 0 for 4 to bring his average down to .337 and Eric Valent went 2 for 3 with a run scored, a double, and a walk. Valent is now batting .295.
  
• Bowie beat Binghamton 6-5. Lastings Milledge went 1 for 5 with a run scored and a walk. Mike Jacobs went 1 for 5 with a run scored, a double, and two RBIs and Brett Harper went 2 for 5 with a run scored, his sixth homer at AA, and two RBIs. That is Harper's 26th homer on the year between St. Lucie and Binghamton.
  
• Vero Beach beat St. Lucie 4-2. The Mets only mustered four hits the entire game.
  
• Lake County beat Hagerstown 6-3. Ambiorix Concepcion went 2 for 4 with an RBI, Mike Carp went 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and Ryan Coultas went 2 for 4 with a run scored.
  
• Brooklyn beat Jamestown 6-2. Jesus Gamero and Jonel Pacheco had three RBIs each. Johnson City beat Kingsport 11-9. Cory Wells went 4 for 4 with two runs scored, one double, one homer, and four RBIs.
  
• The GCL Mets beat the GCL Dodgers 6-4. Emmanuel Garcia went 3 for 5 with two runs scored a double and one RBI.

Another AL executive said about the state of the whole NL: "I can't believe that we are going to allow three teams besides the Cardinals to make the playoffs this year. That league stinks."

It looks like the Marlins might be holding onto AJ Burnett.

One industry source said the proposed deal of prospect Hayden Penn, outfielder Larry Bigbie and relievers Jorge Julio and Steve Kline for Burnett and third baseman Mike Lowell is "stone cold dead."

There is still speculation he may wind up with the Blue Jays or White Sox, but it looks like the Marlins just may keep him.

The Mets need some innings from Kris Benson tonight.

Jose Reyes gave the National Stage a bit of show yesterday having what could have been his best game of the year offensively because of how he basically won the game for the Mets.

Is Pedro's lack of velocity in the past few starts scaring anyone? He went through a dead arm phase with the Red Sox a few years ago and had to be DL'd to get some rest and that is the road I see Pedro on at this point.