The folks at Newsday have learned that the Mets organization is souring on OF Lastings Milledge by the day and it seems more and more likely he will be traded this winter. Besides his lackluster play, his attitude has also turned off some members of the organization.

Also on the Milledge front, it appears that the Mets have had internal discussions about trading Milledge and P Aaron Heilman to Toronto in exchange for OF Vernon Wells. If the Mets are to acquire Wells, he would be moved to right field while Shawn Green would move to left.

Milledge has also been brought up in discussions involving White Sox Pitchers Javier Vazquez and Freddy Garcia, Marlins P Dontrelle Willis and Padres P Jake Peavy.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has a crapload of nuggets this morning:

The Mets are still interested in White Sox P Javier Vazquez, but he views the Rangers as the most likely trade partner. Rosenthal suggests the Sox trade Vazquez and OF Brian Anderson to Texas for some of Texas’ pitching prospects, namely Thomas Diamond and John Danks.

The Dodgers are close to signing 1B Nomar Garciaparra to a 2-year deal.

With the departure of DH Frank Thomas to the Blue Jays, expect the A’s to inquire about C Mike Piazza, OF Cliff Floyd, OF Aubrey Huff, OF Frank Catalanotto and 1B Shea Hillenbrand. The alternative route would be to acquire a bat by trading P Esteban Loaiza.

The Giants, Rangers, Orioles and Astros are the four teams most interested in OF Carlos Lee. Lee is a fallback option for the Giants if they fail to re-sign OF Barry Bonds.

If the Devil Rays move either OF Carl Crawford or OF Rocco Baldelli, they will be moved for a young pitcher with ace-like potential. Possible targets include Angels P Ervin Santana, Dodgers P Chad Billingsley and one of the Marlins young pitchers.

Astros.com reports Astros GM Tim Purpura denies having discussions with the Red Sox about P Brad Lidge.

Newsday reports Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez has no plans to waive his no-trade clause.

The Boston Herald is reporting that the Red Sox and Scott Boras plan to keep the Daisuke Matsuzaka contract negotiations “as quiet as possible”.

The Philadelphis Inquirer is reporting that free agent OF-2B Alfonso Soriano has said he prefers to stay on the east coast.

The Denver Post reports that the Cubs, Rangers and Astros are all showing interest in P Jason Jennings.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that the Rockies have told the Yankees they will take on half of the $23 million still owed to P Carl Pavano.

Joe Girardi might win manager of the year this season, and might find himself out of a job. His services will be in high demand after he took a team that was gutted before the season and took them from a horrendous start to playoff contention. Girardi and the Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria have been at each others necks all year over Loria meddling with the team and getting in Girardi's way. Adam Rubin's Blog reports the following.

Joe Girardi is definitely out as Marlins skipper after the year, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

The report indicates the Mets' Manny Acta, as well as fellow third
bases coaches Fredi Gonzalez (Braves) and Joey Cora (White Sox), will
get interviews. Acta interviewed with the Dodgers last winter before
they hired Grady Little. He then managed the Dominican team in the
World Baseball Classic.

The Mets sweep the short 2 game series with the minor league Marlins, but the difference this time was the Mets had a tough assignment against Dontrelle Willis who has dominated them since entering the league and today was no different up until a key at bat by Paul Lo Duca in the seventh inning.

Dontrelle had been cruising until a tough fought at bat by Duke, an 11 pitch sequence where he wore down Dontrelle and then gets a base hit to right. Beltran then came up and fought off a series of pitches and then snuck a hit through the shortstop. Delgado grounded out, moving the runners to second and third. David Wright then came to the plate and continued his nack for hitting from behind the count, on a 1-2 count Wright smacked a triple to right field to tie the game at 2. Wright is the first player in Met history to start the season with an RBI in the season's first five games, a total of 9 RBIs in 5 games.

Wagner came in and shut the Marlins down after Reyes overthrew a ball to Delgado for his second error of the game and of the year. D Wright was responsible for all 3 runs, hitting the sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning, following Beltran's walk and Delgado's big hit to right to move Beltran over to third.

Glavine was pitching well until the 6th, when he intentionally walked Cabrera, and then gave up a double to score 2 runs. Overall it was a quality start by Glavine giving up only 5 hits and 2 runs, striking out 5 through six innings. Duaner Sanchez continues to fool batters with his nasty change up, pitching 2 strong no hit innings, striking out 2. Sanchez is proving to be a valuable tool along with Aaron Heilman, possibly the best 1-2 combo for middle relief in the NL.

The Mets extend their record to 4-1 and head to Washington to take on the Nats in D.C.

Random Notes: Former Giants linebacker Harry Carson, in full Mets gear, threw out the first pitch of the game. Carson is a good friend of Glavine and a
Hall of Famer-designate. Carson
came to know Glavine and Ozzie Smith during a Sports Illustrated
cruise. He attended Smith's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame,
and he said he would like to be there if Glavine is inducted. The Mets
play on Aug. 5, the day Carson is to be inducted.