Adam Rubin is reporting that Luis Castillo has been released by the Phillies.

Good to know; in case Brad Emaus flops there is an experienced veteran second sacker out there who the Mets can pick up for the league minimum. Oh, wait …

According to Sandy Alderson, Nick Evans has cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to AAA Buffalo.

Adam Rubin has reported that Jason Isringhausen will remain back in Port St. Lucie for at least another two weeks. However, that’s no guarantee that he’ll be with the Mets in the near future.

Per Rubin’s post:

If another team approaches Isringhausen in the interim about a major league opportunity, the Mets must either call up Izzy or let him depart.

“It’s in their hands,” Isringhausen said. “If another team wants me, what we’ve talked about is they have the right to call me up or let me go.”

In case you haven’t heard, the Mets have traded former first-round pick Eddie Kunz to the Padres for another former first-rounder, Allan Dykstra. This news is over a day old, but I’ve been trying to develop a reaction to it.

First of all, no, Allan Dykstra is not

In what has become our weekly financial update on Sterling Equities, it appears that Saul Katz and Fred Wilpon have another business that’s struggling with money.

If the tweets of Adam Rubin and Steve Popper are any indication, Jason Isringhausen has yet to decide whether or not to accept the Mets’ “offer” of staying in warm and sunny Florida to further build up his arm.

Considering that Brad Lidge will be out for 3-6 weeks with a shoulder issue, one must wonder if the Phillies would be interested in adding Izzy to the back of their bullpen.

I had the pleasure of participating in a conference call with Mets manager Terry Collins on Tuesday night. I didn’t get home in time to record the entire call, so you may want to check out MetsBlog, which has posted an abbreviated transcript if you’d like to hear the full Q & A.

My planned question was whether Collins planned to