Swell

Friday, I chastised Mike Lupica for using the word swell. Admittedly, I'm feeling a bit bad about that. I should have been embracing the fact he brought back such a...well, for lack of a better word...swell word. Swell pretty much sums up how things are going for the Mets. Things are not quite going great and things are certainly not bad so swell kind of lies in the middle. Omar is on the verge of having an even bigger off season than he had last year as there are plenty of reports that the Mets are actually pursuing a trade for not only Carlos Delgado from the Marlins, but Luis Castillo as well. The reports keep saying that the Marlins would require at least on top prospect and I'd be willing to kiss Yusmeiro Petit goodbye in a second in any deal that would bring back those pieces. Anderson Hernandez raised his value a lot as did Mike Jacobs so the Mets have some good pieces to supplant the jewel in Petit.

The Daily News says that the Baltimore Orioles are a more likely landing spot for Delgado, but that deal would be contingent upon the Marlins being able to get Adam Loewen or Hayden Penn and it is unclear whether the starting pitching starved Orioles would be willing to give up one of their two most promising pitchers for something that they have been able to generate of a lot of, and that is offense. Also, the Daily News mentions Paul LoDuca as a possible target of Omar, but that idea seems to be ridiculous. I am not high on LoDuca whatsoever. He is a below average catcher and his offense has never been close to what it was in his rookie season. For me, Castillo and Delgado should be the only ones of interest for the Mets along with Beckett, but we know Beckett is not coming here no way no how. The Rangers seem to have put together an great package of Hank Blaylock and either John Danks or Thomas Diamond. The deal could get done pretty soon and the Rangers would finally have that legitimate ace that they have been seeking and one of the best arms in the bigs would be taken out of the NL East.

Now the Mets will set into motion this week the wooing of the lynchpin of the off season. This stands to be the first deal to drop if all goes well with it being a two horse race and Phillies have still not improved their offer of two years with a third year option. If the Mets put their offer out and the Phillies with their new GM "Stand" Pat Gillick stand pat, the Mets will have arguably the best closer in major league baseball not named Mariano Rivera. This week will go a long way to shaping this off season and if the Mets could land Wagner, it sends a big message to the remaining free agents. The Mets are in it to win it. For the second year in a row, Omar went out and put Wilpon's money where his mouth is. With the Mets on the verge of being in the upper echelon of the league, the sell to come to New York and play in Queens should be a bit easier and with Wagner coming this week, Omar eyeing some offensive help from the Marlins, and Rafael Furcal's agent Paul Kinzer hopeful the Mets will make an offer next week, things could go from swell to amazing pretty quickly.

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Omar is interested in Mark Grudzielanek as a cost effective and able replacement for Kaz Matsui. However, I am one of the few that wouldn't mind Kaz coming back if the other pieces are in place because I think he can play and I don't consider Grudz enough of an upgrade to justify eating so much of his salary.

Omar likes Mark Sweeney to bolster the bench and is believed to have offer him a one year deal between $800,000 to $1,000,000.

Minaya talks about the Cammy deal.

Brian Giles will accept a discount to stay in San Diego, albeit a small one, and is looking for $10,000,000 annually.

The Mariners may announce the signing of Kenji Johjima as soon as today.

Why is Omar not really talking much about Roberto Hernandez? Maybe because he knows the Mets will not have any draft picks in the first four rounds possibly and may be hoping to squeeze a first round draft pick out of the team that signs him if they do it before December 7th or after the Mets offer him arbitration. But given his age, I'm not sure a team would necessarily risk that but he may end up going to a team that would only have to give up a second round pick.