TUESDAY, 7:03pm: It looks as though the first of the Mets’ offers has been issued.
According to Jack Curry of the New York Times, the Mets have offered Derek Lowe a three-year deal, worth a total of $36MM. I imagine half the teams in baseball would be willing to offer that amount to Lowe. The article maintains the current notion that Lowe is the Mets’ first choice to bolster their rotation. He had reportedly been seeking five years and $90MM.
MONDAY: MLB.com’s Marty Noble on the Mets:
They intend to make offers early this week to at least two and probably three free-agent pitchers — Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf — in hopes of signing one of them.
Noble says the Mets continue to rank the three in that order – Lowe, Perez, Wolf. The Mets haven’t shown any indication of wanting to sign more than one. Lowe and Perez should be ready to sign soon now that Scott Boras isn’t occupied with Mark Teixeira.
Noble adds that the Mets aren’t terribly concerned about having only one left-handed reliever on the roster (Pedro Feliciano). They’ll look for bargains rather than pursue a Joe Beimel type. Mets GM Omar Minaya does want to acquire a utility infielder, with Alex Cora atop the list.
