The following players declared free agency today…

Baltimore:
Benson, Kris (SP)

Boston:
Mirabelli, Doug (Catcher)

Cincinnati:
Guardado, Eddie A. (RP)

Colorado:
Hawkins, LaTroy (RP); Matsui, Kaz (2B); Redman, Mark A. (SP)

Kansas City:
Thomson, John C. (SP)

San Francisco:
Klesko, Ryan (1B)

While I realize that this ship has sailed, the Mets could do a hell of a lot worse than Kaz Matsui. The Mets have such a long line of second basemen that found greener pastures elsewhere. Jeff Kent, Melvin Mora, Kaz Mat, etc…

Here’s a rundown of the latest Hot Stove news around the league…

The San Francisco Giants acknowledge their interest in A-Rod. [ SI.com ]

The Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers contacted Curt Schilling.
[ MLB Trade Rumors | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ]

Yankees have yet to make Jorge Posada an offer. [ NY Daily News ]

List of Scott Boras Clients. [ MLB Trade Rumors ]

Torii Hunter to meet with Chicago White Sox. [ Chicago Sun Times ]

MLB Trade Rumors ranks Japanese pitches who could jump to MLB this off season [ MLB Trade Rumors ]

Would A-Rod fit on the Red Sox? [ Boston Herald ]

What about A-Rod in Dodger blues? [ San Francisco Chronicle ]

A-Rod hopes the Yankees reconsider their stance. [ NY Daily News ]

Ken Griffey Jr. a Brave? [ Atlanta Journal-Constitution ]

Andy Pettitte : I will either play for Yankees or retire. [ Newsday ]

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports points out that the Mets could have $33.5 million dollars off their payroll this year with a number of players declaring free agency and potentially another $37.3 next year.

Partial list of 2007 free agents

LHP Tom Glavine $10.5 million last season
C Paul LoDuca $6.25 million
2B Luis Castillo $5.75 million, pro-rated
2B Jose Valentin $3.8 million
RF Shawn Green $3.7 million (Mets’ contribution)
RHP Jorge Sosa $1.25 million
LHP Dave Williams $1.25 million
RHP Aaron Sele $1 million

Partial list of 2008 free agents

1B Carlos Delgado $16 million next season
RHP Pedro Martinez $11 million
RHP Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez $6.5 million
RHP Guillermo Mota $3.8 million

Rosenthal notes, the Mets obviously would need to pay for replacements for these players but they have several young, cheap in-house options such as Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey for the rotation along with Carlos Gomez and Lastings Milledge available for the outfield.

In addition to these contracts coming off the books, the Mets will earn $20 million a year from Citibank for naming rights in 2008 along with approximately $30 million from shared MLB revenues.

This does not even factor in SNY revenue, the flood of revenues the Mets will be earning with the new ballpark, and many other cash streams. All things considered, the Mets appear to be in a very good financial position to throw their weight around when it comes to going after free agents in 2007 and beyond.

How aggressive they plan to be with this wealth remains to be seen.

When asked what the Mets biggest off season priority should be, Mets fans chose pitching by a wide margin.

The poll was taken on Mets.com and as of this time 47% of fans said bullpen help was the biggest priority with the starting rotation not far behind, garnering 46% of the vote. Catcher (4%) and Second Base lagged far behind (2%)

I agree 100%

While I want the Mets to add an arm or two to the rotation, I feel the bullpen is the Mets biggest weakness. There appear to be more impact players available as relievers than starters this offseason via free agency.

After the jump, the full list of free agent starting pitchers, closers and middle relievers. (more…)

On ESPN.com Tim Kurkjian lists the top storylines to monitor this offseason. Among them are of course where Alex Rodriguez will land, will the Twins trade Johan Santana, the major changes in the Bronx, and the lack of top talent on the free agent market forcing teams to look to improve via trade instead.

John Delcos reports in his blog that Curt Schilling listed the Mets as one of the 12 teams he’d be willing to play for next season. His other options include staying with Boston, returning to Philly or Arizona, and teams including the Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, and Braves.

This season he started 24 games for 151 innings. He finished the regular season 9-8 with a 3.87, all while in the American league.

It should be important to note that Schilling’s list of places to go seems to be very National League heavy. I can easily see the Sox bringing him back again, thats two rings he’s won with them, and I’m sure they’d love to try for a third, especially with the massive shakeups going on in the Bronx. I wouldn’t be against him coming to the Mets, though considering his…active participation with the media…it would be interesting to have him in the NY market. Based on his stats in the AL he could conceivable eat most of Glavine’s innings, though Schilling probably couldn’t stay healthy to take all 200. The question then would be if Ollie and Maine could step up and avoid the second half problems they had this season.

Mets veteran pitcher Aaron Sele and veteran catchers Mike DiFelice and Sandy Alomar Jr. have all filed for free agency. This brings the total to nine Mets who will test the market.

Six Mets filed for free agency today, Marlon Anderson, Luis Castillo, Paul Lo Duca, Ramon Castro, Damion Easley and Shawn Green. It is unlikely that Easley will be pursued by the team, however Castillo is being targeted as a reacquisition.

Not terrible much to add…if Green and Castro are brought back its most likely as bench players not starters. Of that group I’d assume Castillo and Anderson are the ones the team will put the most effort towards bringing back. With Easley’s injury being as severe as it is I don’t see much of any team giving him a chance till he’s healthy enough to better judge his recovery.

The Mets upper management will gather soon to discuss how they intend to proceed this winter. Mark Hale in The New York Post lists a number of items that should be discussed. Among them:

• * Will they persue Alex Rodriguez?
• * How will they handle their own free agents, Paul Lo Duca, Luis Castillo, Shawn Green, Marlon Anderson, Ramon Castro, Damion Easley Tom Glavine and Shawn Green?
• * Should El Duque be moved to the bullpen?

Omar Minaya commented on A-Rod and the Mets intentions heading into the Hot Stove season.

“He is still property of the Yankees, so technically I can’t comment,”

“First and foremost we want to address pitching. Championships are won with pitching; we saw that with the Red Sox.”

I agree with Omar. The Mets top needs this offseason are to upgrade the bullpen and to add a reliable arm or two to the rotation. In my mind, offense is the third thing on my list of upgrades this offseason, and should be viewed as a luxury item.

The St. Louis Cardinals have reached an agreement with starting pitcher Joel Pineiro on a two-year deal pending physical, according to Joe Strauss of STLToday.com.

Pineiro, 29, was 6-4 with a 3.96 ERA in 11 starts after the Cardinals acquired him from the Boston Red Sox in a July 31 non-waiver deadline deal.

Update - 2:36pm - According to Ken Rosenthal at FOXSports.com, Pineiro’s contract is worth $13 million over two years.

John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Reds will be picking up the $13.5 million club option on 1B/OF Adam Dunn’s contract.

The Reds CEO Bob Castellini stated that there’s a possibility that Dunn’s contract will be extended.

Dunn, 27, finished off the season with a .264 average, 40 home runs, 106 runs batted in and 101 walks. Dunn has hit 40 home runs or more in the past 4 seasons with the Reds.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, the Red Sox and Rockies are in serious discussions about a deal that would send 1B Todd Helton to the Red Sox for P Craig Hansen, OF Jacoby Ellsbury and another prospect.

Rosenthal
notes that a possible dealbreaker would be how much of Helton’s
contract the Rockies are willing to take on. Helton is guaranteed $90.1
million the next six seasons.

If this trade goes down, the Red Sox are expected to move current 1B Kevin Youkilis to third and ship off 3B Mike Lowell, most likely to San Diego for some relief help.

…why
are the red sox considering this trade? helton is on the downside of
his career and the club will be stuck with him for another six seasons.
not to mention the talent they are giving up could be used to get a
closer such as Chad Cordero…

…as for the rockies, if this deal goes down, they are making out like bandits in this trade as well as the Jason Jennings deal. they are going to be a team to watch in two or three years with all talent they’ve brought in…

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the White Sox have traded P Brandon McCarthey and OF Dave Paisano to the Rangers for P John Danks, P Nick Masset and P Jacob Rasner.

Interesting trade. From everything you heard, the Sox have been making room for McCarthey for years and to just trade him like this is odd. Texas got away with highway robbery in this deal.

For those of you who think this bodes well for us in the Barry Zito sweepstakes, you are out of luck since the Rangers 5th starter at the moment is John Koronka

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”.