In an article on Inside Bay Area, the word out of San Francisco is that a high-ranking official within the Giants organization believes the team should reach out to the recently fired Rick Peterson in an advisory role to help Barry Zito get back on track. The official declined to comment because Peterson is still under contract with the Mets.

Giants general manager Brian Sabean stated that he would not address anybody else’s business when asked about any interest from the team in Peterson.

When asked about a possible reunion with Peterson, Zito stated that, “If anything did happen, it would be completely out of my hands.”

Since signing a seven-year, $126 million deal prior to the start of the 2007 season, Zito is 13-23 with a 4.90 ERA. He is 2-10 with a 5.88 ERA so far in 2008. Under the tutelage of Peterson, Zito was 47-17 with a 3.04 ERA in three season in Oakland, with a Cy Young Award in 2002.

Took a look around the interwebs and some sports talk radio and this is what I found.

First up, Brian Schneider visited with Benigno and Roberts on their midday show on WFAN. Scheider told them even though he “hasn’t swung a bat yet” if they need him in an emergency he would “go out there”.

Asked if he had any thoughts on Oliver Perez, Brian said

“I just want to see an adjustment” when struggling with control. “I’ll go out there”, to the mound, “and tell him I don’t care if you throw the next two pitches in the dirt or if you hit this guy”… “He has to make an adjustment and I didn’t see that”.

Then I found these two nuggets that could kinda make you of scratch your head. First Adam Rubin of the Daily News tells us how higher-ups in Mets management mulled over the idea of replacing Rick Peterson this past off-season and Ed Ryan of Mets Fever points us towards a ESPN Jayson Stark article that reads:

So can Barry Zito ever get straightened out? We surveyed a half-dozen scouts and executives, and we found only one who thought he could. And that was a scout who said his only hope was to get reunited with Rick Peterson, “the only [pitching coach] Barry Zito ever had success with.”

So, baseball “experts” mull over whether Peterson was the problem with the Mets last year. Then six months later he might be the answer to one of the biggest flops in baseball free agency history…jeez.

Tim Marchman of the NY Sun has had enough of Willie Randolph an writes there’s nothing that Willie can do to change his mind:

It’s time for the Mets to fire Willie Randolph. They should fire him if his team sweeps the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. They should fire him if his team wins all three games by a total score of 27-0. They should fire him if his team puts on such a display this weekend that the greater Phoenix area literally burns to the ground around them, lit by nothing but the intensity of their passion and brilliance. The man’s time is up, and nothing can change that.

Jason at Faith and Fear in Flushing could not agree more.

NY Times Ben Shpigel gives us a pre-preview of the Arizona series in a small post he titled The Mets Past, Present and Future in Arizona.

Mets.com Marty Noble tells us about some bad memories Billy Wagner has from a ball that ricocheted off his head ten years ago in Phoenix.

Jeff Bercovici of Portfolio.com has a story about ex-Met Lenny Dykstra and some trouble he’s having with his publishing venture.

Lastly, Matt Cerrone over at Mets Blog writes about a story from the NY Post’s page six regarding Carlos Beltran’s 31st birthday party at Sofrito. Among other guest’s Jennifer Lopez was in attendance. Matt goes on to quote the page six story:

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any wilder, Jennifer Lopez grabbed the birthday boy and shook her world-renowned booty. Then, the crowd improvised a song with the lyric, “We’re going to win the World Series.”

Then Matt totally cracked me up with this remark to finish up his post:

…take note, as this may be the first and last time the term world-renowned booty appears on MetsBlog…

Ken Davidoff in Newsday writes about the value of Fernando Martinez who once was deemed ‘too raw’ by Oakland in return for Barry Zito.

The Mets offered him instead of Lastings Milledge, who the Mets felt was too good to give up at the time.

Milledge, as we all know was traded for far less than the bounty of Zito this offseason. It is a difficult game to know when and if it makes sense to trade prospects for known entities.

Martinez has had another year under his belt and with the Yankees and Red Sox not particularly putting a full court press on the Twins, the Mets have the luxury of waiting for the Twins to blink.

I don’t know that Martinez’s value has risen so much as it doesn’t appear they have much competition. The Red Sox and Yankees seem to be sitting on the sidelines, which leads the Mets to believe they can get Johan for a smaller package.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Mets most recent offer made for SP Dan Haren was considered more suitable for SP Joe Blanton.

Ken also notes that the A’s are no longer as interested in Mets OF Lastings Milledge and RHP Aaron Heilman as they were when they tried to acquire them for LHP Barry Zito in 2006. The A’s have found solutions for starters in the corner outfield spots and are looking for a long-term answer in centerfield. The A’s consider Milledge more of a corner outfielder. Carlos Gomez seems to be the more attractive option.

Milledge appeared in 14 games in centerfield last season in relief of Beltran who was injured, committing just one error and two assists in 120 innings.

SF Giants pitcher Barry Zito intimates in the April issue of Esquire that Mets' brass was arrogant in their pitch to him last winter.  Zito liked the Giants approach.  A blurb about the meeting was printed in Tuesday's edition of the NY Daily News. 

“There just wasn't a lot of ego there, which was huge for me,” Zito told the magazine about the Giants.

Zito's agent, Scott Boras, called the meeting with the Giants, more “positive” than the Mets.

As someone who used to work in television and radio, I love these sort of tid-bits.  They make great lead-in material for a highlight, especially when the Mets face the Giants this year.  Personally, though, if Zito didn't like the pitch, just zip it, Barry.  Besides, when your ERA balloons above 4 and the Giants are out of the race, I'm sure you'll remember the “positive” meeting.

Jon Heyman points out in his SI.com article that when the Oakland A's have scored four or more runs for Zito, he is 85-4, a .955 winning percentage.

Its December 27th and it appears that the Rangers are getting antsy. The Star Telegram reports that Rangers owner Tom Hicks has told Scott Boras that if his client does not accept their offer by this weekend they will explore other options.

The Mets, according to a source at The Daily News, have yet to make an offer. The Yankees are being rumored in the papers to have interest in Zito if they can trade away Randy Johnson, however some have argued that the Yankees are not as willing to make a run at Zito as some may make you think. Zito has not pitched well against the Yankees or many of their AL East rivals, which could hold some weight in their decision. The Yankees have found themselves overpaying for quite a few free agent pitchers over the past few years and with a front office now more closely controlled by Brian Cashman than George Steinbrenner, its less likely the Yankees would make a 'at all costs' deal under his regime. 

The decision to pass on one player, Carlos Beltran, could have actually been their biggest mistake. After a rocky start with the Mets, Beltran has comfortably settled into his new environment and solidified the solid core of young stars in Queens. Its still anyones guess whether or not the Yankees will make a play, and its in their best interest to play coy than drive up the price. What it does do is add another dimension to how Boras treats his negotiations, and in classic Boras style play the teams against each other.

So now we wait to see what will happen first. Will the Zito negotiations now drag out until if and when the Yankees can find a suitor for Randy Johnson? Will the Yankees deny any interest in Zito and remove any leverage Boras might have playing to that angle? Stay tuned.

Steve Popper in The Bergan Record reports that Scott Boras has told The Associated Press: “We've gotten offers from every team we've dealt with. We're past the preliminary meet-and-greet stages.”

What that offer is was not disclosed. Despite Boras' statement, The New York Post said that their sources tell them the Mets have yet to make an offer.

Barry Zito however is not close to making a decision. Ken Davidoff reports in Newsday that Zito told the San Francisco Chronicle that he is not yet ready to decide.

Take it for what its worth but New York Sports Dog reports some of the whispers they’re hearing surrounding the Barry Zito and the Mets situation.

We have just heard that the Mets are raising the ante on signing free agent Barry Zito, and both sides seem amenable to “making a deal work.” The sticking point, we’ve been told, is the guaranteed 6th year. The numbers are reported to be just under $100M for 6 seasons.

After an initial meeting, both sides will meet for dinner before concluding negotiations tomorrow. According to our source, “if they come back without him tomorrow night, he won’t be a Met.”

He also says he got a phone call tonight and when asked the source whether or not a deal could be announced tonight, the answer was “yes”.