John Delcos reports at his blog that the Mets are in the process of setting up a three game series against the Florida Marlins in Puerto Rico next season, though nothing is set as of yet.

I’m fine with this…as long as its a series that would have been played at Don Shula Stadium, since they can’t sell out home games anyway.

Buster Olney on ESPN cites a NL source who said that the Dodgers and Marlins are ‘pretty far apart’ on Miguel Cabrera. Olney writes that ‘there is growing expectation around the game is that the Angels will land Cabrera’.

Mike DiGiovanna at the Los Angeles Times writes that the Jon Garland deal could lead to the Angels trading for Miguel Cabrera.

The addition of Garland, a 28-year-old who went 10-13 with a 4.23 ERA last season, gives the Angels a rotation surplus that would enable them to package a young starter such as Santana or Saunders in a trade for a slugger such as Florida third baseman Miguel Cabrera or Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada.

The Red Sox signing Mike Lowell takes another third baseman off the market, making Miguel Cabrera an even more attractive option.

The Marlins have been asking for Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick in any deal for their Cabrera, but the Angels may be able to use top prospect Nick Adenhart along with a Major League starter to land Cabrera.

Ken Rosenthal on Fox Sports reports that the Cubs are considering Luis Castillo along with Kaz Matsui to fill second base. The Mets and Astros are talking to Castillo as well.

Marty Noble, on MLB.com, writes that David Eckstein — not Luis Castillo — appears to be the Mets’ primary target for second base. However, as Hot Foot relayed from Adam Rubin on the New York Daily News this morning, Eckstein may want more than what the Mets are willing to offer.

Rubin writes that Eckstein is seeking a four-years, $36 million deal, similar to what Julio Lugo received last year from the Boston Red Sox.

ESPN reports that the Yankees seem to be backing away from going after Mike Lowell to play first base and use Shelly Duncan or Jason Giambi instead.

The Red Sox have reportedly offered Lowell a three-year offer worth between $35 million and $45 million.

The Sox have been reported to have interest in Miguel Cabrera as well. Back in April, according to Enrique Rojas on ESPN, Cabrera expressed interest in play alongside Albert Pujols in St. Louis.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Florida Marlins may be interested in dealing Miguel Cabrera for a package with the Los Angeles Angels that includes their young 2B Howie Kendrick.

In response to those demands, the Angels might ask for permission to negotiate with Cabrera and make their best trade offer contingent on reaching a contract extension with him.

The Marlins are seeking three highly rated, low-cost players for Cabrera.

Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post indicates that an industry source has said that the Dodgers are making a big push for 3B Miguel Cabrera. There is also speculation that the Dodgers could have interest in setting up a blockbuster deal that would also include LHP Dontrelle Willis.

The Marlins are listening to trade offers for Willis, however, they aren’t likely to trade him as much as they are Cabrera.

The Baltimore Orioles have declined their $7.5 million club option for 2008 on former Met RHP Kris Benson. Benson missed the 2007 season with shoulder surgery.

Benson, 32, signed a three-year, $22.5 million contract while with the Mets prior to the 2005 season. He was traded to the Orioles for current Mets pitcher John Maine and relief pitcher Jorge Julio, who was again traded away by the Mets to Arizona for pitcher Orlando Hernandez.

Benson last pitched in 2006 going 11-12 with a 4.82 ERA for the Orioles.

Roughly two weeks ago, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald pointed out that Benson could be among one of the free agent targets for the Marlins in the offseason as his price will come down tremendously after missing the 2007 season due to an arm injury.

• According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies reached out to Tadahito Iguchi about playing third-base in the upcoming season. Iguchi told them that he preferred to sign elsewhere as a second baseman.

• The Twins have offered free-agent pitcher Carlos Silva a three-year deal worth slightly more than $7 million a season. Silva, however, wants at least one more year on a contract.

• Seattle Mariners right fielder Jose Guillen will likely leave the team and head to free agency. Guillen wants a multiyear contract. The Mariners are hesitant to give him one. The Mariners will likely use the money to look towards a starting pitcher.

• White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen wants SS Juan Uribe to lose some weight and show up in shape. The team has until 15 days after the World Series to pick up Uribe’s $5 million option or give him a buyout. The Sox could give Uribe a $300,000 buyout and attempt to re-sign him if they fail to land a free agent like David Eckstein, who can bat leadoff and play shortstop, or fail to trade for a younger shortstop.

• Former Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd would like to end his career playing for the Florida Marlins organization again. “If I don’t get an opportunity to come here, hopefully I’ll get a good job that’ll give me an opportunity to play the outfield and DH.”

Armando Benetiz has been traded from the Giants to the Marlins. Benetiz had two balks to score Reyes and tie the game, then gave up a homerun to Delgado for the loss in his last outing. The Giants will get Randy Messenger, who in 23 appearances has a 2.66 ERA.

I can only assume that the fine folks who run the Florida Marlins have lost their minds. I can see it from the Giants point of view. If I was the Giants, I'd accept a pitching machine from the local minigolf course and a small bucket of those oversized baseballs if it meant dumping Benetiz. From the Marlins point of view…well, can we drug test GMs and owners?  Hey, Omar, if you're reading this, see if they'll trade Chan Ho Park for the D-Train, because clearly the Marlins are either insane or throwing the season.

While we impatiently wait for the game to start, an extremely quick look around the NL East:

The Nat's snuck in a late rally to avoid the sweep. They had three runs in the 8th for their sole win in the series, but kept themselves in the best they could, taking Saturday into extra innings and losing by just one Friday.  All with a pitching staff cobbled together with minor leaguers and guys who haven't started in years. The Nats currently have 5 starting pitchers on the DL.

Philly seesawed for the weekend, but took the series with two 5-3 wins over Toronto, but mixed in a 13-2 loss. Todays win puts them back at the .500 mark for the season

In another up and down series, the Braves ended up on the losing end, dropping two to the Red Sox with a doubleheader yesterday that resulted in one victory by 14 runs to shut out the Red Sox, and one loss by 10.  The Braves lost todays game 6-3.  Matt Diaz went 4 for 5 but failed to score and had just one RBI.  the sole win came off a 7 inning shutout performance by Smoltz to earn his 199th victory.

And Marlins took the sole sweep of our NL East competitors, taking all three games over the Devil Rays in the battle for Florida. I'm sure all the Met and Yankee fans that retired to Florida were very excited.

Elsewhere in the NL East this weekend:

Ex Met Mike Jacobs is expected back Monday, after missing some time due to a thumb injury. The Marlins beat the Nats earlier today 12-6.  The Nats Jerome Williams gave up 10 runs, and Manny Acta pulled Ryan Church for not running out a grounder.  Its only assumed Acta is using lessons learned from the book of Willie Randolph as he tries to get the young Nats team turned around.  Zimmerman had a grand slam to make the game almost close, and but Uggla went long twice, Cabrera once and another from Willingham in the Marlins runfest.  The Marlins are now 8-10, the Nats 6-13.

Philly beat the Reds, and Ryan Howard returned after being day to day with a strain and getting an MRI.  He had a homerun as part of his welcome back party and Utley added two doubles.  The team was reported to have held a players only meeting this weekend, and have now won two in a row. The two game streak included Philly pulling a triple play on the Reds yesterday.  Red catcher, Ross, grounded to third allowing the force out there, followed by a relay to Utley (2nd) and Helms (1st) to make it three.  The last Philly triple play was against the Mets.

While the Mets lost their series to the Braves, and head back to Shea with a 4-2 record, here’s a quick look at what else is going on in the NL East:

The Nats were swept by the Diamondbacks in a four game series at RFK. The games have been been both close (3-1 in their last loss) and not so much (7-1 Friday). The starting staff’s ERA’s are running a little high (Patterson 9.35, Williams 6.0, Bergmann 9.82). The Nats are now 1-6.

The Phillies are also struggling, dropping five of six, including a 6-4 loss today at Dolphins Stadium vs the Marlins. Ryan Howard is batting .217, Utley .259, and Met fan favorite Jimmy Rollins a .304 with 3 homeruns.

The Marlins, after finishing with Philly, is now 4-2. After 22 at bats is hitting .500 with 4 doubles, 2 homers, and 8 RBI’s. D-Train is 2-0, having given up 5 runs, 4 earned, in 12 innings pitched. He’s struck out 12 and walked 3.

While the Mets rested, the rest of the NL East had a busy day, for the most part beating up on each other.

In the battle of the former 3rd base coaches, the Manny Acta led Nationals fell to the Marlins (manager Fredi Gonzalez was the Braves 3rd base coach) 9-2.  Two Nats left the game with injuries (SS Guzman, CF Logan).

It's going to probably be a very long year for Manny.

In Philly, the Braves won 5-3, in 10 innings, via two Renteria home runs including the game winner in the 10th.  McCann added a 2 run shot in the 4th. Rollins hit the sole Philly homerun.

After all that talk of the wind in Card-land last night, turns out we played the East's sole homerunless game.