Lowe-balled

The Mets pitched a three-year, $36 million offer to Derek Lowe on Tuesday. According to sources, Lowe will continue shopping for a deal elsewhere.

From the Extra Bases blog:

Part of the reason the Mets may have entered the bidding with a relatively conservative offer is because they believe Lowe has no other suitors in the Northeast, where the pitcher has expressed a desire to pitch. The Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies had only preliminary conversations with Lowe and none of those clubs is believed to be interested in the pitcher at this time.

The Mets will likely have to increase the offer by a couple million even to get Lowe to the table. He is said to be seeking a possible five-year, $90 million deal.

Jack Curry doesn't see the Mets going much higher than what they already offered, though:

But as much as the Mets like the veteran right-hander, they are not expected to radically improve their offer. Another million a year, for a total package of $39 million? Maybe. But there won’t be a fourth year added to the deal.

Maybe Lowe will strike out everywhere else and "settle" for the $36 million. With Scott Boras as his agent? Yeah, right.

Outfield assist to Ian from SOX & Dawgs.

Tidbits: Fuentes and Vargas sign, DeRosa traded, Marquis soon

A few tidbits on this one of many slow news days.

• Brian Fuentes finally found a team. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for two-years, $17.5 million, with a vesting option for a third year. A little cheaper than K-Rod, eh?
• Claudio Vargas signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. $400,000 base salary with up to $1.4 million in incentives. Why couldn't the Mets do this?
• The Cubs have traded utility man Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for three minor leaguers. I expect Omar Minaya to land a utility guy for the Mets quite soon. I'm looking at you, Alex Cora.
• The Cubbies are also in talks to trade Jason Marquis to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino. An upgrade from Heilman, if ever so slightly.

Fletcher wished his readers a Happy New Year, and I will too. Have a safe night and here's to a wonderful 2009 for you, yours and our Mets.

2008 Met of the Year Award: Championship Round voting

#1 Johan Santana vs. #1 Carlos Delgado -- May the best Met win.

Voting ends at MIDNIGHT.

2008 Met of the Year Award: Championship Round set

Here is your final matchup: #1 Johan Santana vs. #1 Carlos Delgado.

I guess I seeded them well.

It was a close match, with Delgado earning 56% of the vote (84 votes to 66) over #2 Mike Pelfrey.

Polls will open immediately and will close at midnight. Winner will be announced Thursday.

Mets offer Lowe three-year deal

According to Jack Curry of the NY Times, the Mets have offered Derek Lowe a three-year deal worth around $36 million.

This backs up a story from Dec. 24, in which it was noted Lowe and the Mets were "close" on a three- or four-year deal.

This would be much lower than the deal Lowe is seeking, which Curry noted to be for "five-years, $90 million."

Lowe, 35, is coming off a 14-11 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Black uniforms going from bad to worse?

Adam Rubin and Matt Cerrone both posted the same photo of this mysterious black Mets jersey found at a Sports Authority.

Taking a look at the shirt, it's as if the Mets thought that the black jersey wasn't ugly enough, and they decided to make it look even more detestable. It seems both Rubin and Cerrone believe this may be the rumored "changes" to the jersey that have been coming.

I think they've both been taken. There are things called "fashion" jerseys, and not only are they ugly, but they seem to be very popular. In fact, they have their own category in the Mets shop. That shirt isn't in there, but it's not in the official section either.

Why would a Sports Authority have the new uniform before the Mets even announced it? It just makes no sense. Many companies (outside of Majestic or Nike) make their own Mets uniforms that aren't "official." This seems like one of those shirts.

It's just another ugly jersey, not the Mets new uniform. At least, I hope so.

Update: I was right. Thanks to some snooping, commenter NYMetsGrrl94 and Ryan Punzalan sent in this: Majestic New York Mets Charcoal Fashion Replica Jersey. $79.99 for that? No thank you.

2008 Met of the Year Award: Final Four -- Piazza Division

With Johan Santana winning the Seaver Division, today is the day we vote for who will be facing him in the final.

Today's matchup: #1 Carlos Delgado vs. #2 Mike Pelfrey.

Voting can be based on anything from VORP to cuteness to game winning hits to game saving plays. Seriously, it's whatever you choose.

Here is the poll:

2008 Met of the Year: First Finalist: #1 Johan Santana

The top seed from the Seaver Division, Johan Santana crushed his Final Four opponent and will move on to the Championship Round.

Santana beat out #2 David Wright by 64 votes, raking in 73.53 percent of the votes (100 exactly). Wright garnered 26.47 percent (36 votes).

Santana will face the winner of #1 Carlos Delgado vs. #2 Mike Pelfrey match, beginning at 9:30 am.

2008 Met of the Year Award: Final Four -- Seaver Division

Today marks the first matchup of the Final Four round of The 2008 Met of the Year Award.For a larger image, click here.

Today will be the one matchup from the Seaver Division. Tomorrow will be the matchup from the Piazza Division, and on Wednesday (12/31) it will be the final vote to determine The 2008 Met of the Year, to be announced on Jan. 1, 2009. All results will be hidden.

Today's matchup pits 1. Johan Santana vs. 2. David Wright.

Remember, voting can be based on anything from VORP to cuteness, and anything in between. Here is the poll:

Voting ends at MIDNIGHT.

May the best Met win.

Mets to make offers soon

With a lull in signings and tradings since the Winter Meetings, the Mets have been pretty mum about their next move. Not for much longer.

According to Marty Noble, the Mets may make offers to Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf this week.

The Mets believe Lowe and Perez, both represented by agent Scott Boras, are more in position to sign now that one of Boras' higher-profile clients, Mark Teixeira, has agreed to a deal with the Yankees. They still view Wolf as a fall back alternate to the other two. There has been no indication the Mets will pursue more than one starter or that they will pursue any reliever to any great extent, opting instead to allow the market to slow even more.

Noble goes on to note that Lowe is valued higher than Perez, mainly due to his consistency.

The "Sign Lowe" movement has been gaining voices the last few weeks among the fans, and I am part of that group. I'd like to see a multi-year deal sometime soon, but hopefully not for a ridiculous amount of money.

And ignoring the Lowe and Perez possibilities, I still feel the Mets should sign Wolf no matter what. They need a back end of the rotation guy in case Jon Niese can't handle the duties.

1. Sign Lowe...If not, 2. Sign Perez...3. Sign Wolf either way. The end.