Here is a recap of some Mets Hot Stove rumors from Jon Heyman’s latest article on SI.com:

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.

Omar Minaya has expressed that with the likelyhood of Tom Glavine leaving, the Mets are willing to trade top prospect to get a top tier pitcher in return, reports MLB.com

“There’s no doubt, if you’re going to trade for pitching in this market — the way pitching is right now if you look at the free agents — you’re going to have to part with some premium guys,” Minaya said Wednesday.

“There’s no doubt that our premium prospects are very well-liked. The question is whether we’d trade them. We could be players in some of the pitching that might be traded.”

The Mets top prospects, in order of value to the team, are Minor League outfielders Fernando Martinez and Carlos Gomez, Mike Pelfrey and Minor League starter Kevin Mulvey, Lastings Milledge and Philip Humber.

A deal involving Martinez and Gomez is highly unlikely. The Mets might be more willing to deal them if the return was someone like Johan Santana.

Kevin Kernan in the New York Post suggest that the Mets make a push to get Oakland A’s pitcher Dan Haren.

Billy Beane has long coveted Lastings Milledge, and Aaron Heilman could be included in a deal to get Haren as well.

Haren and Johan Santana each had 15 wins this past year. Haren (76) allowed fewer earned runs than Santana (81) as he posted the third best ERA in the AL at 3.07. Santana was seventh (3.33). Haren surrendered 24 home runs while Santana gave up 33.

I’d be shocked if Beane made Haren available, he’s discussed Rich Harden with the Mets before but Haren has been pretty much untouchable. If he was available, I would have to think the Mets would have lots of competition for his services and there are teams who have more chips than the Mets to go get him. This seems like a pipe dream to me.

Mets prospect Lastings Milledge has been medically cleared to play rehab games.  Lastings, remember him? He played for hte Mets, at some point. Long long ago. He's expected to start in the Gulf Coast league this weeekend.

Ben Shpigel reports in his blog at the Times that Lastings Milledge will be out 4 to 6 weeks, which is a bit longer than anticipated, with the injury to his foot.

Remember all those jokes about how unlikely it would be to see Ricky Leedee in a Met uniform?  Well, umm…lets hope Alou and Green stay healthy.  The young Carlos Gomez though is still doing well down in AAA, and would also be an option if needed. He's probably behind Leedee though due to his age and inexperience.  Ben Johnson is still out after his argument with the outfield wall.
 

Dave Lennon reports in his blog at Newsday that Lastings Milledge has been placed on the DL with a strained ligement in his right foot.  Lastings had started out slow when returning to playing every day in AAA, but had since heated up.  He was batting .333 with 5 RBI's and 5 stolen bases.

It seemed Lastings was just getting into his groove too.  Finally shook the rust off from sitting on the Mets bench, was hitting every day, and then…right back out. 

For those who haven't heard, Mike Pellfrey has been moved to the Mets 25 man roster, and is expecting to pitch tonight(assuming there's not a monsoon in Queens right now). El Duque will be bumped a spot in the rotation to get an extra days rest. To make room, Lastings Milledge has gone to AAA New Orleans.

Well, that was pretty much expected. Not a shocker. I know everyone wants to see Lastings start, but Green has been doing quite well so far, his BA has been more active than a lot of the rest of the lineup, and his defense isn't as horrible as predicted. He's actually made a few good plays out in right, though granted he's made one or two bad ones as well. Its probably better for Lastings to go down to AAA and play more often, then to keep him on a bench where he isn't even getting an at bat a night.

The guys over at TrueSport are back from Florida where they got to spend some time with the Mets. Their first post about it is up, and check back with them later in the week as they promise to talk about meeting John Maine. But if you head over today (right now!) you can learn what they saw seeing Maine, Lastings, and Green all play live.