Let's gather up the latest Mets hot stove links…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News, and Ken Davidoff of Newsday all trashed yesterday's signing of Alex Cora for $2MM. The basic premise is that every dollar counts when you're up against a payroll limit, and uninspired signings like Cora, John Grabow, and Ramon Hernandez for $2-3MM hurt.
- In that same blog post, Davidoff says the Mets "like Matt Holliday, but it's pretty apparent that they're not going after him the way they pursued Carlos Beltran five years ago."
- The Mets are poised to add Henry Blanco and Chris Coste as backup options, but Davidoff says their top free agent target is Bengie Molina. If he's offered arbitration today and turns it down later, Molina would cost the Mets' their #40 draft pick (unless they also sign a higher-ranked Type A who turned down arb, in which case their #40 pick would go to another team and the Giants would get #71). Davidoff notes that Gerald Laird and Chris Snyder were Mets trade targets in the past, and that other free agent catchers would not cost a draft pick. Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post says the Mets are interested in Type B free agent Rod Barajas.
- Roch Kubatko of MASN talked to Orioles president Andy MacPhail about Wayne Krivsky leaving his special assistant position with the O's for a better position with the Mets. Knowing that Krivsky wants to be a GM again, does this put more pressure on Omar Minaya?
