Juan Padilla and Ben Johnson have both been reassigned to minor league camp, in another move that surprises no one.

But hey, Padilla hasn’t reinjured himself. I’d expect to see him at some point this season assuming his rehab goes well, even if its just for a few days. Likewise for Johnson, who if not were for his own injuries would have seen some time at Shea last season.

The Mets have signed a minor league contract with outfielder Ben Johnson, including an invite to spring training.

It seems highly unlikely that Johnson will crack the 25 man roster coming out of spring training.  That being said, as we all saw last season you can never have too many spare outfielders, and with our previous #1 and #2 spares (Lastings and Gomez) no longer with the organization, a good spring could easily place Johnson on speed dial for when (not if) Alou gets hurt. Plus between Endy, Beltran and even Johnson, we’ve learned there’s no accident too weird to befall a Met outfielder.

The New York Mets have announced that they have non-tendered catcher Johnny Estrada, outfielder Ben Johnson and reliever Juan Padilla.

Estrada’s short-lived Mets career came to an end when the Mets acquired Brian Schneider. Johnson and Padilla may be brought back by the team on minor league deals.

Ben Johnson has been optioned to AAA New Orleans.

Not much to say here…no reason for him to fly to LA to be optioned tommorow when Green comes off the DL. Not a big surprise move. I'm really just trying to make this post more than a line basically.

Randolph said Shawn Green will be activated tommorow, and that Carlos Gomez will get to stay and play for a little longer now that Endy is a card carrying member of the Injured Mets Outfielders Club (free gym bag, with membership!). So that calls up the quesion, who gets voted off the Mets bench?

We can first just rule out the no brainers, the bench guys that are not leaving us. Castro, Franco, Easley. Well, and Gomez. So that leaves us with Gotay, Johnson and Ledee.

Gotay has been looking good. His playing time has been a bit limited, spending just 10 innings at second base, and getting 43 at bats. Though he started slow, he's hitting .302 overall and has done well in the field. He has the potential to be platoon second baseman that Anderson Hernedez never quite managed to be. Decent performance by as the season continues could earn him a solid bench spot or even a surprise replacement for Stache in the future.  Though only an infeilder, if platooned with Valentin, Easley can be used as the utility OF (Chris Woodward style).

Ricky Ledee is a tough call. As mentioned the other day, he was hitting in the upper .200s in AAA, looked cold his first night out and then had a good day Saturday in the Mets loss with 2 hits.

Ben Johnson seems to have yet adjust to mlb pitching. 0-2 for the day as I type this, he's hit in just 3 of the 8 games he's appeared in so far, for a .182 average, all of them singles. He's also walked twice, and has one RBI. Younger than Ledee (older than Gomez) he has the look of someone who still needs some more time down in AAA. He had been playing well, though was on the minor league DL for a spell after a diving play resulted in a shoulder injury.  He seems the most likely candidate.  Though he could with time be a better player than Ledee, he doesnt seem ready and the time in AAA will probably do him good. He would be my bet for the one sent down tommorow.

After that, it will probably be tricky. If Alou is back, you could concievable keep Gomez despite the desire for him to play more, since his speed would make him needed more with Alou and Green both in. If he's performing expect to see him stay, and Ledee to go down. If he's not performing, its probably safe to assume he goes down. Of course, should Endy return first, Gomez goes down no matter what.  With Newhan sent down, I'd assume there's a very good chance of Gotay keeping that spot on the roster, when both Alou and Endy are activated.

Anthony DiComa over at mlb.com asks the question: with some of the injured Mets likely to return soon, who will be sent down?  DiComa feels Carlos Gomez will go first, then Ben Johnson.

I'm not entirely sold on Alou being the first one back, but as DiComa points out Gotay is doing well, which makes him being sent down when Stache returns less likely. I think regardless of who returns first of Stache, Green and Alou, Gomez will go down first.  As the young guy who got called up more because the guys ahead of him was hurt, he needs to be playing more.  He's got good speed, and shows signs of potential, but its hard to argue that he's ready.  I doubt they'd send Newhan down, but it'd be nice for him to go before Johnson, or at the very least before Gotay.  Assuming shipping Newhan to AAA isn't an option I think the ideal order of sending down would be Gomez first, then Johnson, then Gotay, regardless of order of returning Mets.

Speaking of which, I think we'll see Stache first, then Green, and Alou last. Just a gut feeling, I have no medical background (short of some shoulder injuries), inside information, or justification. I could very well be wrong. In which case, I'll pretend this post never happened.

Earlier today the Mets sent Shawn Green to the DL.  He had broken a little bone in his foot after hitting a foul ball into it back during the Marlins series.  AAA outfielder Ben Johnson will take his spot. Johnson has actually been with the team since Sunday's game, but arrived too late to be activated.  Johnson was hitting .282 in NO, but was just starting to heat back up after spending some time on the minor league DL, hitting .308 with 12 hits over his last 10 starts.

According to the Denver Post, the Rockies and P Jason Jennings haven’t been able to come to any sort of agreement on a contract extension, opening the possibility of a trade. The Post lists the Cardinals, Cubs, Astros, Twins, Mets and Yankees as possible suitors for Jennings’ services.

Notably, the Post lists Mets P Brian Bannister as someone who interests Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd.

However, Metsblog suggests that any Jennings to the Mets trade would have to involve any combination of Ps Phil Humber and Mike Pelfrey and OFs Ben Johnson and Lastings Milledge going to Colorado.

If Bannister is the main component of any trade which would net the Mets a pitcher of Jennings’ caliber, I’d do it in a heartbeat. The same cannot be said if we would have to part with one of our prized prospects. While Jennings is a good pitcher, I don’t feel he is on the same level as a Jake Peavy or Dontrelle Willis, pitchers we could have with these same players. To me, a Bannister and Ben Johnson for Jennings trade would make the most sense for the Mets, but I’m not sure the Rockies would bite on it.

Ken Rosenthal reports on FoxSports.com that the Mets have traded relievers Heath Bell and Royce Ring to the Padres for outfielder Ben Johnson and pitcher Jon Adkins

Johnson hit .250 with 4 HR and 12 RBI in 120 at-bats for the
Padres in 2006 and he's a right handed bat, which the Mets sorely need.

Johnson was named the Padres Minor League Player of the Year in 2005
after batting .312 (129-414) with 79 runs scored, 27 doubles, 25 home
runs and 83 RBI in 107 games with Portland. He hit .341 (15-44) away from PETCO Park last season.

Omar Minaya had the following to say about the players he acquired

Adkins was 2–1 with a 3.98 ERA in 55 relief-appearances.

Check out Its Outta Here for a profile on Ben Johnson.

The Pod fans on the ESPN message boards do not seem happy about this deal.

Bell and Ring had their chance to shine here and their performance was more often than not, disappointing. Omar gets back an outfielder who according to Baseball America is an exceptional athlete and another arm to add to his pen to replace Ring and Bell. Omar has a pretty good track record on these seemingly minor deals that seem to pay significant dividends down the line. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out as well.

This could also be a precursor to a deal to shop Lastings Milledge in a trade, as Johnson seems to have a pretty impressive pedigree in the minor leagues himself.