There stands to be excitement and intrigue surrounding tonight’s Mets vs. Giants game, the kind that reverberated around Labor Day 2007’s Mets vs. Reds match up.

In that Labor Day game, Pedro Martinez returned from injury. He did not have his most dynamic outing, allowing five hits, three walks and two earned runs, but ultimately, he pitched well enough to win and left unscathed. The Mets can only hope for similar results tonight.

Martinez’s rash of injuries since mid-season 2006 have severely put in question the merits of Omar Minaya’s four-year, $53 million dollar signing. With the ace right-hander making only five starts in 2007, the team needs Martinez to shoulder more of the pitching duties in 2008, or plainly, half the pitcher’s contract will prove fruitless for the Mets.

Perhaps it is a different kind of excitement that centers around New York tonight. On this year’s Opening Day, Mets fans seemed eager to see Johan Santana in action. That same anticipation tonight may be replaced by anxious onlookers, disturbed by every odd move of Martinez on the mound.

In the past, the national media has made hasty generalizations, saying the Mets have absolutely no pitching and without Martinez, the team is doomed. The team may not be doomed, but a healthy Martinez need not be dominating on the mound to have an impact in 2008. His clubhouse presence alone, as well as his Hall of Fame-caliber stuff, would quickly pay dividends.

Over in the Bronx, the Yankees are reacting to both the echoing demands of Hank Steinbrenner and the disabled list trips of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

To say Hughes and Kennedy have been underwhelming thus far would be understatement. Hughes went 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA and 2.14 WHIP before landing on the disabled list on April 30. Ian Kennedy was 0-3 with a 7.41 ERA and 1.75 WHIP before being placed on the D.L. on May 28.

It’s far too early to pass judgment on Hughes and Kennedy. New York fans are notoriously reactionary, and the pitchers are young yet. What stood questioning was the continuing use of Joba Chamberlain this season in the set-up role. Perhaps the best of the three, Chamberlain was wasted in the bullpen while Kei Igawa received an opportunity to throw live, in-game batting practice. Pigeonholing a quality starting pitcher into a bullpen role, much less a middle relief role, is mind-boggling and only minimizes the contributions the pitcher can have for the team. Finally Chamberlain gets his starting opportunity tonight, and with solid outings from him, better sense may prevail.

Who has the better chance of winning tonight — Martinez or Chamberlain? The nod goes to Martinez, who faces a slowly recovering Barry Zito and the Giants. While only collecting one win in five starts since returning from the bullpen, Zito put up adequate numbers in every game. He’s still walking too many batters, but he’s found ways to minimize the damage.

As for Chamberlain, he goes head-to-head against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays. A man with a handful of complete games under his belt this season, Halladay is coming off two brilliant starts against the A’s and Royals. Halladay’s ace card is a tough draw, indeed, for Chamberlain’s first start. Tonight’s Yankees vs. Blue Jays game should be a highly interesting and entertaining contest.

Yankees P Joba Chamberlain has been granted bereavement leave to be with his ailing dad who collapsed at his Nebraska home. Joba’s dad, Harlan, has had polio since he was nine months old, and raised his two kids as a single dad.

I know Joba’s on the Yankees, but you never want to wish ill will on anyone. Get better soon.

ESPN reports that a can of bug spray used in the now infamous ALDS game, where Joba Chamberlain was covered with flies, fetched $673 at an online auction.

Buster Olney on his ESPN blog writes of the matters that could complicate the trading of Johan Santana.

Among them is his no-trade clause, which he could use as leverage to block any deal where he doesn’t feel he will get his best return on a new deal.

On top of that, a team would need to part with a number of their best prospects, a proposition that could present another roadblock due to the fact that the Yankees are reluctant to give up Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, and Phillip Hughes, and the Red Sox may be unwilling to trade Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, and Jacoby Ellsbury on top of a $150 million contract extension.

The Mets seem more willing to deal their prospects, as Omar Minaya has stated that ‘nobody’s untouchable’ and he intends to upgrade his rotation this off season.

A package could include either Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, or more likely Lastings Milledge, who has the most major league experience of the three, as the Twins want players who are major league ready in return, along with and pitchers Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber and Joe Smith.

Hot Foot reported earlier this week that Jim Callis of Baseball America doesn’t believe the Mets could put a package together that the Twins would be willing to accept for Santana. Callis believes the Mets should set their sights on Dan Haren instead. Ken Davidoff seems to agree, and writes of a Haren deal with the Mets on Newsday.

“Trade Aaron Heilman, Lastings Milledge, Kevin Mulvey and a lower-level prospect to the A’s for Dan Haren.The beauty of a Haren trade is that the Mets would be acquiring an ace for the price of a back-of-the-rotation starter. They would retain the payroll flexibility to go out and get Santana on the free-agent market a year from now, if Santana is still available, or Erik Bedard in two years.”

Olney wonders if a package of Milledge, Humber and Pelfrey would be enough weighed against the backlash new Twins GM Billy Smith would receive from fans for trading Santana.

Smith, in his first year as Twins GM, will look to shape his legacy in his first season. He could find that he may endear himself better to fans, however unlikely, by holding onto Santana, hoping he leads the Twins back into the pennant race next season rather than hand him over to the Yankees or Red Sox.

Considering the landscape of this free agent market, this year could be the biggest off-season of trades in quite some time.

Johan Santana, Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Scott Rolen, and Miguel Tejada are among those who could be seeing a change in scenery this winter.

In terms of Santana, Jayson Stark on ESPN writes that the Mets might be the team most willing to give up the prospects needed to get him.

One NL executive says: Watch out for the Mets, given the pressure on GM Omar Minaya to win now.

“Omar seems determined to make a huge splash,” the exec says. “And I think that’s the guy they’ve had earmarked all along.”

The Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, and Mets would appear to be the top teams in the running for Santana.

The Yankees don’t appear willing to deal Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, or Phillip Hughes, which would likely put they out of the running for Santana.

The Dodgers would need to make a choice on who to use their prospects on, Cabrera or Santana. Buster Olney on ESPN cites a NL source who said that the Dodgers and Marlins are ‘pretty far apart’ on Cabrera. Olney writes that ‘there is growing expectation around the game is that the Angels will land Cabrera’.

However Rosenthal believes the Angels no longer are the front-runners for Cabrera.

Rosenthal cites major-league sources who say, if the Dodgers are willing to part with outfielder Matt Kemp along with third baseman Andy LaRoche and Class AA left-hander Clayton Kershaw, they would likely be able to land the Marlins All-Star third baseman.

If the Dodgers fail to land Cabrera, they are rumored to have interest in Scott Rolen as well.

Jayson Stark believes it will take two young players to get Dontrelle Willis. The Mets, Mariners and Diamondbacks are believed to have interest.

The Orioles want to get rid of the $26 million left on Miguel Tejada’s contract which does not leave many suitors. The Dodgers and Angels may use Tejada as plan B if they lose out on Cabrera. The O’s are also rumored to be shopping Erik Bedard.

The Reds may make Ryan Freel or Scott Hamilton available due to the emergence of minor league player of the year Jay Bruce.

The Pirates could offer 26-year old Ian Snell who has more quality starts (22) than Santana or Roy Oswalt and a better strikeout rate (7.66 per 9 innings) than Carlos Zambrano or Ben Sheets.

The Phillies are looking at Randy Wolf, Matt Clement, Kris Benson, Mike Wood, and Japanese free agent Hiroki Kuroda.

Here’s a rundown of Hot Stove news this afternoon…