Another Minaya quote

“It was a very good conversation. Everything is fine. Listen, we have no problems with Carlos Beltran. I have no problem with him and ownership has no problem. We love him. The only issue was with the process, not the player.”

-Omar Minaya to the New York Times

Mets, Maine agree to deal, avoid arbitration; Four file

According to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, John Maine and the New York Mets agreed to a one-year deal moments after he filed for arbitration.

The deal is worth $3.3 million with the chance to make an additional $225,000 from bonuses based on starts, according to the AP.

Also filing for arbitration today was Pedro Feliciano, Jeff Francoeur, Sean Green and Angel Pagan.

Link: Minaya says he did not OK surgery

Head over to Newsday (one free page view a day) to read Anthony Rieber’s article about Omar Minaya and Carlos Beltran’s conversation.

The Omar quote is so Omar.

Mets sign Jolbert Cabrera; Eric Byrnes DFA’d

 Neither excite me very much, if at all.

2009 Met of the Year: Championship Round is set

It’s a re-match!

The 2009 Met of the Year award is down to two players.  Both No. 1 seeds have advanced the entire way and David Wright and Johan Santana will face off on Monday to see who is crowned the 2009 MotY.

Check back Monday morning for the poll.

Below is the full bracket from the 2009 MotY…Ed. note: I’m heading back up to Connecticut today for my last semester of college.  Crazy, I know.  If anything happens during my ride up, I’ll be sure to post something when I arrive.

Statement from Carlos Beltran

I am totally surprised by the reaction to my recent knee surgery. Any accusations that I ignored or defied the team’s wishes are simply false. I also spoke to Omar Minaya about the surgery on Tuesday. He did not ask me to wait, or to get another doctor’s opinion. He just wished me well. No one from team raised any issue until Wednesday, after I was already in surgery. I do not know what else I could have done. The most important thing here is that the surgery was a total success and I expect to be back on the field playing the game I love sooner rather than later.

Carlos Beltran through his agent Scott Boras

Quotes and notes from John Ricco conference call

Direct quotes from Assistant GM John Ricco

• "When he started to ramp up for his spring training program in early December  was when he started feeling discomfort in his knee."
• "There is an issue regarding the process that was followed regarding the surgery."
• "Surgery was performed before we had the opportunity to do that [get third opinion]."
• "I'm not going to get into the legal ramifications right now."
• "All we've done is sent a letter to the agent alerting him to the fact that we were not afforded the opportunity we asked for."
• "We're just reserving our rights under his [Beltran's] contract."
• "The 12 weeks is the time frame before he can start full baseball activity."
• "The estimate right now is 12 weeks until be can *begin* baseball activity."
• "We're clearly not done putting this team together."
• "Clearly he had a symptom. ... He had a procedure he thinks can alleviate those symptoms."
• "We found out the surgery had been done Wednesday mid-day."
• "Omar has spoken with Carlos and we've had several conversations with Scott Boras."
• "It's disappointment on a couple of different levels."
• "This was not microfracture surgery. ... He is not a candidate for microfracture surgery."

Notes/Paraphrases from Ricco

• He was monitored by the medial staff. Ray Ramirez visited him in PR.
• Beltran visited Dr. Altchek. Had three MRIs on the knee.
• Altchek suggested backing off workouts to see if that helped
• Dr. Steadman suggested procedure, was a successful surgery. Beltran is still in Colo.
• Mets wanted third opinion on Beltran's knee and wanted to "digest" the info.
• There was communication between the doctors [Steadman & Altchek]
• Mets are most upset that surgery was done before third opinion, not that the surgery was done.

Did the Mets give consent? [Quote]

“The Mets gave consent to pay for the surgery.”

-Scott Boras, via Andrew Marchand

Marchand said he spoke with Boras who claims the Mets, specifically Ray Ramirez, sent over workman’s comp papers to perform the surgery.

Mets sign LHP Bobby Livingston

According to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, the Mets have signed LHP Bobby Livingston to a minor-league deal.

Livingston was in four different organizations last year, bouncing from Double- to Triple-A.  He went 9-7 in 25 starts (27 appearances) with a 4.15 ERA and 1.365 WHIP.  He struck out 74 in 156 innings while walking 36.

He last made an appearance in the majors with Cincinnati in 2007.  That year he went 3-3 in 10 starts with a 5.27 ERA and 1.509 WHIP.  He surrendered eight home runs, struck out 27 and walked eight in 56 1-3 innings.

Mets sue SpongeTech

The Mets are taking their official sponge supplier to court for bounced checks.

According to the Daily News, the Mets are suing SpongeTech, a soap-filled sponge, for $400,000 in bounced checks.

The Mets are also asking for $2.3 million from SpongeTech, the rest of the advertising contract they have with the team.