Moises Alou has been placed on the DL, retro'ed to Saturday, with his quad injury.  The mvoe was made after last nights game, AAA pitcher Vargas will take his roster spot.

Personally, I think this is good news. No offense to Alou, he's been hitting great, he's been one of the more consistant players on the team, but it was time to give him some rest and let him heal before he just made it worse. Now we get to keep Gomez up for awhile longer rather than send him back down to clear space for a pitcher.   Hopefully Vargas will do well, because I for one am not entirely that confidant in most of the other arms in our AAA club right now. Humber needs more time, and it seems like it would be pointless to bring Pelf back so quick. With Gomez and Endy both around though its nice, since even with the slower Green in right, it still completely changes the look of the OF with one of them in the left corner.  Plus it probably saves some wear and tear on Beltran.

Alou left the game today with a pulled left quad. He's listed day to day. 

Another Alou injury in a short period of time, if this doesn't send him to the DL chances are something else will shortly. Hey Chip Ambres, maybe you should pack a bag. Just in case.

Alou's MRI's showed an irratated should capsule, but he has returned to the lineup.  he went 0 for 4 tonight in his first game back to drop his average to .333.  He is at least connecting however, with two fly outs and two groundouts in the Mets loss.

Our buddy Matt Cerrone on MetsBlog reports that the Mets have officially announced the signing of Moises Alou.

Alou will appear live with Mets GM Omar Minaya, Ron Darling and Matt Yalloff on tonight’s episode of Mets Hot Stove on SNY at 6:30 pm and will repeat again at 9:30 pm.

The deal is a one-year, $7.5 million contract with a club option for 2008.

Alou, 40, hit .301 (104-345) with 52 runs scored, 25 doubles, one
triple, 22 home runs and 74 RBI in 98 games for the San Francisco
Giants last season.

“Moises Alou is one of the game's top hitters,” Omar Minaya said about the veteran slugger “He'll add a valuable righthanded bat to our
line-up.”

Here's a rundown on Alou's accolades from Mets.com…

Alou is a six-time All-Star (1994, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2005)
and two-time Silver Slugger recipient (1994, 1998). He has constructed
a .301 (2,005-6,660) batting average with 400 doubles, 38 triples, 319
home runs, 1,229 RBI, with 102 stolen bases in 1,840 major league games
with Pittsburgh, Montreal, Florida, Houston, the Chicago Cubs and
Giants.

Moises has a .368 lifetime on-base percentage and a .516
slugging percentage. In addition, he has compiled a .308 (593-1,923)
career batting average with runners in scoring position. He is one of
19 major leaguers to hit .300 or better with 350 doubles, 300 home runs
and 1,110 RBI (14 of the others are in Baseball's Hall of Fame).

He finished third in the NL MVP voting on two occasions (1994 and
1998). Moises batted .339 (143-422) with 31 doubles, five triples, 22
home runs and 78 RBI in 107 games with the Expos in 1994 and hit .312
(182-584) with 34 doubles, five triples, 38 home runs and 124 RBI in
1998 with Houston.

The San Francisco Chronice is reporting the Mets and OF Moises Alou are in the final stages of completing a deal. The contract is expected to be either a 1 or 2-year deal. One of the sources told the paper, “I think its going to happen”.

If the Mets sign Alou before December 1st, the Giants will recieve two high compensatory draft picks since he is a Type A free agent.

The 41-year old Alou hit .301 with 22 home runs and 74 RBIs in 345 at bats last season.

Bye bye Lastings. We hardly knew ye.

UPDATE 6:05 PM
SI.com is reporting the deal could be announced next week.

Update 8:22 PM
SI.com is now reporting that Alou turned down 2-year deals from the Indians and Rangers to take a 1-year deal plus a option with the Mets. Newsday is reporting Alou will sign a 2-year deal.

Update 6:07 AM
The AP is reporting its a one-year deal worth $8 to $9 million

Ken Rosenthal is at it again. He is reporting that the Mets and OF Moises Alou are discussing a 2-year deal, not the one-year, $8 million deal reported earlier this morning.

Rosenthal notes that this would also mean that if Alou signs with the Mets, OF Lastings Milledge is all but gone by Opening Day 2007.

I've made up my mind and I think I'd rather have the platoon. We have enough offense and we need some defense in the outfield. Alou can't run anything down and Shawn Green can't field anything hit away from him while Milledge and Endy Chavez are both good outfielders (I know what you are thinking, but he had a bad series aganist Boston).

Now, about the 2-year deal. I get it on only one condition. They let Green walk after this season and they start either Milledge or Carlos Gomez in 2008. If thats not the case, then its a bad move signing him to the second season.

Dominican newspaper Listin Diario is reporting that a friend of OF Moises Alou told the paper that he is close to signing a 1-year deal worth $8 million with the M.E.T.S. New York Mets of New York Town.

Here is a translation of the article (note, the translator is off on some words, but you get the picture):

“The Mets of new York are just about to sign al Dominican Moses Alou
by a total reckoned in eight million dollars for the season of the
2007, according to it expressed a close source al gardener.

The
agreement is almost sure that be concluded this weekend and the
assembly will proceed to the confirmation and presentation of the
veteran, who will become a Hispanic one more than passes to form rows
of the subways.

Last night was reported that the player was outside of the Capital city, but people close to were echoed him of the movement.

The
virtual firm of Moses with the Mets would become the gardener the left
of that assembly, being joining with Carlos Beltrán and Shawn Green.
Cliff Floyd, who has performed that position in the last three years,
is an agent free and do not it is expected that the club sign it again.

To be specified the pact with Moses, would join with José Kings,
Pedro Martínez, July Franco, Guillermo Dot, Duaner Sánchez and Anderson
Hernández, as the Dominican ballplayers that act for the assembly that
has as general manager al native Omar Minaya.

Alou would
fortify exceedingly the house to be able of the Metro, that already
counts on Beltrán, the own Green, as well as Carlos Thin and David
Wright.”

I don't have a clue if I like this signing or not. The guy can hit the cover off the ball, but he is just about as injury-plaiged as OF Cliff Floyd. Our defense is sure to be horrible though. I'm sure a platoon of Lastings Milledge and Endy Chavez would be just as good, but I guess Omar Minaya likes Endy coming off the bench more.

Its a one-year deal, so I assume they would let him walk and play OF Carlos Gomez in 2008.

Jon Heyman on CNNSI.com reports that the Mets have interest in Moises Alou as well, and may not be done adding to their outfield to solidify their offense.

The Mets are still eyeing Alou, who really fits their needs better
than Green in that he's right-handed, although the impending
acquisition of Green may slightly lessen the chances for an Alou deal.
Alou is actually more desirable in that his contract expires at year's
end. Alou has a .522 slugging percentage; Green is slugging .429.

However, there's a potentially big impediment to an Alou deal in that
the Giants still consider themselves buyers. Should they lose a few
more games and fall further out of the race, that could change,
however. The Giants are currently six games out in the National League
West and five games out in the wild card. The Mets have been watching
the Giants' progress closely the past several days.