David Lennon of Newsday relays information from the New York Mets who announced that Moises Alou will have surgery tomorrow to repair a hernia and will miss the next four to six weeks.

Alou was sent back to New York earlier today for further tests after complaining of discomfort in the groin area and the Mets got word of the results this evening.

The Mets have a few options within the organization that they could look to. Angel Pagan who has been killing the ball this spring seems like the most logical choice. Obviously, Endy Chavez, Marlon Anderson and Damion Easley are also options. The long shot option is to see Fernando Martinez in left field.

The Mets also have a couple of options available on the free agent market still such as Kenny Lofton or Preston Wilson. Lofton would be a solid choice, who hit .296 last season with 7 home runs, 38 RBIs, scored 86 runs and stole 23 bases at the tender age of 40. They could also try to convince Shawn Green to come out of retirement.

Mets pitcher John Maine will be on ESPNews’ Hot List at 3:00 P.M. EST.

Head over to Newsday to watch video from today’s game against the Michigan Wolverines. Jose Reyes led off with a double and David Wright brings him home with a two-run home run in the 1st.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN is reporting that the Red Sox have signed pitcher Bartolo Colon to a minor-league contract.

Colon will be a low-risk/high-reward signing for Sox. He has played only 28 starts due to his battle with shoulder and elbow problems since the beginning of the 2006 season.

The Mets just announced the pitchers for next week’s spring training games.

Monday’s intrasquad game: Joselo Diaz, Robert Parnell, Jonathan Niese, Adam Bostick, Joe Smith, Ruddy Lugo, Steve Register, Juan Padilla, Duaner Sanchez, Ivan Maldonado, Andy Cavazos.

Tuesday vs. Michigan: Jason Vargas, Ed Kunz, Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Ricardo Rincon, Carlos Muniz, Nelson Figueroa, Nate Field, Ryan Cullen.

Wednesday vs. Detroit: Mike Pelfrey, Matt Wise, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Sosa, Brian Stokes, Willie Collazo.

Thursday vs. St. Louis: John Maine, Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoeneweis, Joe Smith, Ruddy Lugo, Steve Register, Juan Padilla.

Friday vs. St. Louis: Johan Santana, Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Ricardo Rincon, Carlos Muniz, Nelson Figueroa, Ed Kunz.

Beautiful. The first televised Spring Training game will be Friday against St. Louis on SNY. I’ll be looking forward to seeing Johan pitch in-game for the first time in a Mets uniform.

“Let me tell you this: Without Santana, we felt as a team that we have a chance to win in our division. With him now, I have no doubt that we’re going to win in our division,” the star center fielder said. “So this year, to Jimmy Rollins — we are the team to beat!” — Carlos Beltran, February 16th. 2008

In the Associated Press, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins had arrived to spring training and answered a few questions for the reporters.

Rollins on Beltran’s statement…

“Has anyone ever heard of plagiarism?”

“Pretty good, especially coming from him. Because he’s a quiet guy, it was probably shocking when he said it. Not shocking in a bad way, like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe he said that.’ More like, ‘Wow, he finally said something because he’s a leader on that team and you definitely need to be a vocal leader.’”

Rollins on the Phillies…

“There isn’t a team in this division or the National League that’s better than us. After 162 games, we’ll be looking to win the next 11.”

“We can win 100 games. Look at what happened to us last year with all the injuries and all the different pitchers and the uncertainties and we wound up winning 89 games.”

John Delcos of the Journal News notes that Moises Alou set a personal goal of reaching 500 at-bats this season.

“I’d love to get over 500 at-bats. If I do that I can have a great season. And, if I do that the team can have a great season.’’

Just a tad optimistic.

Ben Shpigel of the New York Times runs down the some of the highlights of Day 3 at Port St. Lucie.