Mets defeat Marlins but have more bad injury News

The New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins 6-3 this afternoon. Nelson Figueroa pitched 3 scoreless innings giving up 3 hits and striking out 3. Raul Valdez and Hisanori Takahashi pitched a scoreless inning in relif. Jenrry Mejia pitched 2 innings giving up a run but only because of a dropped ball in center by Angel Pagan. David Wright hit another homerun and Mike Jacobs hit 2 doubles. Jason Bay and Chris Carter also hit homeruns. Jeff Francouer was hitless and is only hitting 208 on the spring. The big news of the day was that Daniel Murphy is out 2-6 weeks with a sprained knee. This opens the door for Mike Jacobs who was maybe on his way out but will be the starting first baseman now. Jerry Manuel also announced his rotation for the first week and it is Johan Santana followed by John Maine, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez. I don't think it matters to much how you put it because it is basically Santana and then hope the rest of the games. I don't think you can feel good at all about this rotation. Jon Niese may be good but the other starters are showing a lot of questions. Perez is what he is and Maine hasn't been healthy in a long time and when he is, he is basically a 5 inning pitcher anyway. Mike Pelfrey is the guy who really needs to step up but has looked bad this spring. Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting that Jose Reyes will not be with the Mets on Opening Day. If this is true he will miss the first 5 games, the Mets want to be cautious with him according to Heyman. He will not start in any grapefruit league games either then and will keep working in the minor league games. I guess we will see how this plays out the next couple of days.

Phil Hughes 5th Starter,Joba to the Pen???

The New York Yankees haven't officially announced anything but it appears that Phil Hughes will be the 5th starter. If this is the case then Joba becomes the main setup man. Jon Heyman of si.com tweeted earlier today that the competition is down to Hughes and Mitre which basically means Hughes has the job. I don't know if this is true but he must of talked to someone within the Yankees who knows their plans. Chad Guadin was placed on waivers today. If no team claims him then he could accept a assignment to the minor leagues or be released outright. Joba and Mo will be in the backend of the bullpen, David Robertson will be the other setup man. Damaso Marte will be the lefty with Alfredo Aceves serving the same role as he did last season. Sergio Mitre will be the longman and Chan Ho Park will also be in the bullpen. Here is the rotation: CC Sabathia A.J. Burnett Andy Pettitte Javier Vazquez Phil Hughes The rest of the team is pretty much set also with Jaime Hoffman going back to the Ddogers. Marcus Thames and Randy Winn will be the extra outfielders and it looks like Ramiro Pena will be the utility man. I would keep an eye on Kevin Russo as he has played well and if he continues to do so at AAA who knows what could happen. I do think that the Yankees best team right now is with Hughes in the rotation and Joba in the pen. A lot of people will say well Hughes is on a innings limit but they don't need a 5th starter until the end of April and Mitre can be the extra guy if he needs to skip starts. I think we may have a official announcement tomorrow or Thursday but it appears to be Hughes.

Some Mets News

Carlos Beltran arrived in Port St. Lucie today and spoke about being upset with the situation with the injury for about a week. He said it took him that long to get over it but he knows he has to get back with the team and help them win and everything will be ok. He is going to rehab with the team which is a good thing, he can help some of the younger guys. He said there is now no pain in the knee and he is positive and happy with how the surgery went. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is saying that Jerry Manuel isn't kidding and until Carlos Beltran comes back Jose Reyes will be batting third. Jenrry Menjia who is a 20 year old kid is drawing buzz today. He threw yesterday and they said he has an electric arm. Jerry Manuel wouldn't rule him out to be the 8th inning guy. I think it is wrong to rush him, he hasn't pitched above double A and he did struggle there some, he is also a starter and could be a top of the rotation guy. Jerry Manuel felt that K-rod threw well today in his bullpen, he said he had a life on his pitches. He said that Kelvim Escobar hasn't been cleared to do anything other then pitchers fielding practice and light workouts which he has been doing. He said that if Beltran wasn't injured Reyes batting third wouldn't be an issue. He also said he spoke with Beltran but only about how he was doing as a person, he will later discuss how he is doing physically.

Yanks add a couple of Leftfielders

We all knew about Randy Winn but today the signing became official. Jon Heyman of SI.com also reported today that the Yankees signed Marcus Thames to a minor league deal. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and also the Lohud Yankees blog confirmed this on his blog. He had spoken to GM Brian Cashman this afternoon. The deal is a minor league deal that if he makes the 25 man roster out of spring training he will make 900,000. Marcus Thames started his career with the Yankees and only appeared in 7 games with them. He made a name for himself in Detroit where he averaged 23 homeruns and 58 rbi's in 3 season with them. He will compete with Winn and Gardner in spring training for the leftfield job. I think this is a good risk to take especially since they wanted a right handed hitting outfielder.

Baseball Odds and Ends

The New York Mets made a couple of minor league signings today. They signed pitcher Josh Fogg and also utility man Frank Cattelanotto. He is a native of Long Island so he will be coming home. Josh Fogg pitched well as a longman for the Colorado Rockies last year. Cattelanotto hit 278 with one homerun and 9 rbi's with the Brewers last year. He had a 346 obp in 144 at bats. Adam Dunn through his agent is saying that Orlando Hudson prefers to sign with the Washington Nationals and Jon Heyman is tweeting he thinks he will end up there. The Yankees will be going on a 6 day tour of the Far East. We know the Yankees have had a relationship with Japan even though Matsui is gone now. The Yankees have a agreement with China and will be furthering their relations on this trip as well as showing off the World Series Trophy. Jim Edmonds signed a minor league deal with the Brewers with a invite to spring training. It looks like the Oakland A's are in serious discussions with Gabe Gross. If they do sign him Damon will have one less team. I still don't see where he will end up maybe it will be Toronto or Tampa.

MLB notes

Jason Marquis is about to sign with the Washington Nationals. It is interesting that they have added a veteran starter and a veteran catcher. They also will almost certainly have Stephen Strasburg on the roster at some point this season. I think the Mets better be careful, everyone in the division seems to be getting better other then them. The deal is for 2 yrs and 15 million. Jesus Montero the Yankees #1 prospect will be starting the season in AAA-Scranton according to minor league coordinator Mark Newman. I would love to go see him play in Scranton this year, I have not seen him in person yet. It is being tweeted by all the major writers, Buster Olney, Ken Davidoff, Jon Heyman that the Yankees are close to a trade for a starting pitcher tonight. Mark Feinsand of the Daily News is trying to find out who it is but it supposedly is not a salary dump. If anyone is up late tonight we may know or tomorrow morning maybe we will find out.

Arod To Speak?

SI's Jon Heyman is reporting that Arod is most likely going to make a statement today. He is contemplating whether to just issue a statement or do a live national TV interview. We await word and as soon as more information becomes available I will try and post about it as fast as possible. I know in the court of public opinion it doesn't matter what he says, but I am very interested to see if he fights it or just admits it, either way he better just be telling the truth.