Another one bites the dust. As many had expected, Mark Prior signed with the San Diego Padres.

We don’t yet know the details, but it’s likely a one-year deal.

It makes a lot of sense from Prior’s point of view. First, he’ll be pitching in a decidedly pitcher’s park; second, he’ll be in a nice warm climate; third, he won’t be counted on to be an ace; fourth, he’ll have a fairly good bullpen behind him; and finally, he was born and raised in San Diego and continues to make his home there.

Based on all the above, there was little to no chance of the Mets getting Prior if the Padres showed just a whiff of interest. And they did. You can’t argue with geography, and in this case it was all about location, location, location. On the other hand, this could be a blessing in disguise for the Mets, as there’s a chance he won’t ever come back from his arm issues — his mechanical flaws are yet to be corrected, and until/unless there are, he may continue to be chronically injured. Or am I justifying Omar Minaya’s fear of rolling the dice?

Looks like there may be some calls to Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon this week.

New York Times columnist Murray Chass is reporting that the Twins no longer are demanding both Philip Hughes and Ian Kennedy from the Yankees in return for Johan Santana — that they would be affable to the Yanks substituting Kennedy with Double-A righty Jeffrey Marquez, who went 15-9 at Trenton last year and isn’t considered a “top ten” in the organization.

If Chass’ information is reliable, does that mean the price drops for everyone?

Based on this turn of events, a Yankee package for Santana would presumably include Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and Jeffrey Marquez as the main chips. Compare that to the Red Sox’ supposed “final offer” of Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, and Jed Lowrie. One would think that if the Twins are willing to consider those offers from American League teams, they should be equally interested in a similar package that would send their Cy Young ace out of the league.

For example, does a package of Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber, Carlos Gomez, and Anderson Hernandez (or Ruben Gotay) compare favorably? What if the Mets interchanged Deolis Guerra for one of Humber or Pelfrey, or F-Mart for Gomez?

The key problem for the Mets is that they don’t have a bonafide Major Leaguer available to trade, where the Yankees have Melky Cabrera and the Bosox have Coco Crisp. Similarly, both Phil Hughes and Jon Lester have shown success at the MLB level in their brief careers, while Pelfrey has been a comparative bust (thus far). That said, the Mets would likely have to substitute Pelfrey (or Humber) with John Maine or Oliver Perez to make the deal. Is Santana worth it? Probably.

Strangely enough, Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune explains that there is NO National League team in the hunt for Santana. Don’t tell that to Mets fans. The Wilpons should be rushing to squash that rumor — they’re still trying to sell season tickets. One must wonder if Omar Minaya’s “negotiations” with the Twins actually happened, or if it was all smoke to get people excited around Christmastime and pull the trigger on Mets ticket renewals and ticket plan gifts.

We’re going to pretend … er, assume … that Omar was on the level, and really made some legitimate offers to Minnesota for Johan Santana. If that was the case, and if the price is currently going down, what then is the price for Joe Blanton? Surely it cannot be Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey and Aaron Heilman, as Bluster Olney has reported — that’s much too high a price. It would seem that if that’s what Billy Beane wants for a #3 starter, and the Mets are dead-set on acquiring a starting pitcher (rather than simply moving Heilman into the rotation), they might as well add another prospect and get the best pitcher in baseball — even if it means parting with both Gomez and F-Mart.

The clock is ticking … spring training opens in about a month and a half.

I’m sure we all have our
blue and orange stockings
hanging by the fire — regardless of what holiday we’re celebrating. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it can’t hurt to hope that Santa will deliver a Johan Santana to Queens on December 25th.

One stocking stuffer Mets fans won’t be receiving is So Taguchi, who yesterday signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. No big deal, as I don’t think he was the righthanded hitting outfielder we were looking for. However, I’m not so happy about the idea of seeing Taguchi about twenty times a year — his 2006 NLCS heroics have yet to fade from memory.

While the chance of seeing Santana under the tree is remote at this point, there does appear to be some possibility of Freddy Garcia joining the Mets — particularly since the Rangers have finished kicking the tires on the veteran righthander and are moving on to other pursuits. I still don’t think it would be such a bad thing to sign Garcia — provided that it is an additional, and not sole, winter acquisition. He likely won’t be available until June or more likely July, just in time to add a fresh arm for the stretch run. All he costs is money, something the Mets have plenty of. And he’ll have an audition in AAA before taking anyone’s job. Who knows, by July the Mets may be desperate for a starting pitcher — and better to have one ready in the minors than to overpay in a deadline deal.

There’s also some buzz about the Mets “monitoring” Bartolo Colon in winter ball. So far, Colon has pitched in one game — in four innings he walked four, struck out three, and gave up two hits and two earned runs. Not exactly impressive, but it was his first time out. Meanwhile, Joselo Diaz — who the Mets brought back into the organization in mid-November (he was the guy traded for Victor Zambrano, along with throw-in Scott Kazmir) — has a 4-2 record with a 2.75 ERA in 12 games (11 starts) in the same Dominican Winter league. He’s struck out 50 and walked 19 in 56 innings of work. Though he’s being used as a starter, the 27-year-old flamethrower projects as a reliever. Who knows, he could be the surprise of spring training. However, before you get too excited, Jose Lima is also cleaning up in that league, posting a 2.84 ERA in 10 starts.

Chances are, Christmas Day will come and go without any news on the Mets front — and maybe that will be a blessing in disguise. If something breaks, I may or may not get it up here, though there most likely will be something to read on the 26th.

In any case, I wish you and yours a happy holiday.

In a trade that makes little sense for either team, the Cincinnati Reds have traded hot-shot outfielder Josh Hamilton to the Rangers for two minor league pitchers, Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera.

Hamilton burst on the scene last spring, winning a job out of spring training after being plucked in the Rule 5 draft. He spent part of the season as the everyday centerfielder, hitting 19 homeruns, 47 RBI, and a .292 average in less than 300 at-bats.

Purportedly, the Reds were anxious to rid themselves of an outfielder to make room for their minor league player of the year Jay Bruce, who is as yet an unproven commodity. Strange that they’d deal away an athlete such as Hamilton when the rest of the outfield consists of the mule-like Adam Dunn (who plays leftfield like a first baseman) and 38-year-old Junior Griffey, who is likely in his last year as a Red.

In return, the Reds received a little lefty (Herrera) who tops out at 82 MPH and a mysterious enigma named Edinson Volquez. Volquez is clearly the better of the two, but has a career 7.20 ERA at the MLB level.

Also strange, if Volquez is any good, why would the Rangers part with him? Hasn’t their issue been pitching since, well, their inception in the early 1970s?

Hamilton, by the way, joins Milton Bradley in the Texas outfield.

Who am I to criticize … surely those teams know what they’re doing.

In related news, the Rangers are close to signing lefty reliever Eddie Guardado, and also have their eye on Bartolo Colon, Jason Jennings, Mark Hendrickson, and Mike Maroth.

In unrelated news, the Indians signed former Met pitcher Matt Ginter to a minor league deal and invited him to spring training.

A little more than a week after non-tendering recuperating pitcher Juan Padilla, the Mets have signed Padilla to a one-year contract.

Padilla is determined to win back a bullpen role, and claims he’s “about 95%” right now.

“I want to get back on that mound,” Padilla said. “I won’t be a question mark anymore. I’ll be the Juan Padilla from 2005. No one will have to ask me, ‘How are you doing?’

“There’ll be competition, but I know if I’m healthy, I’ll be a tough decision. I won’t make it easy for them (to send him to the minors).”

The 30-year-old was outstanding in 24 games in relief in 2005, but has not thrown an MLB pitch since then. He had Tommy John surgery on his elbow prior to the 2006 season and a second operation on the pronator tendon in his forearm that caused him to miss 2007.

Though Padilla told the New York Times that he was “95%”, and his agent claims he’ll “be ready by spring training”, Mets officials are less optimistic — they don’t believe he’ll be ready by Opening Day.

Padilla pitched well through most of his eight years in the minors but was ineffective with the Yankees and Reds in his 2004 MLB debut. He split 2005 between Norfolk and the Mets and produced a 1.49 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 36 IP at the MLB level. He was originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins, and, ironically, was traded to the Yankees (as the player to be named later) in a 2003 trade that sent Jesse Orosco to the Twins. The Reds plucked him off waivers from the Yanks during the 2004 season and the Mets signed him as a free agent during that offseason.

Before we get too excited about this signing, let’s remember that Padilla’s 2005 could have been a fluke — it was only 24 appearances. Further, we have no idea how he is going to come back after two severe injuries to his arm. Personally, I’m a big fan of Padilla and hope he can recapture the magic. But the rational side of me is managing expectations — in other words, we can’t assume that he’s going to jump right back into an 8th inning role if he proves to be healthy. Though, it would be nice.

Ben Johnson, the outfielder who was also non-tendered with Padilla, remains a free agent.

Not to take any excitement away from Brian Schneider’s official welcome to New York, I thought I’d glaze over some of the transactions executed over the last few days.

Tadahito Iguchi signed a one-year contract with the San Diego Padres. That’s very similar in length to the one-year contract David Eckstein signed with the Blue Jays. Looks like Luis Castillo did a nice job of snookering the Mets into a 4-year deal. Of course, hindsight is 20-20; I remember last November the Mets thinking three years was too much for a middle reliever (Chad Bradford), only to be caught at the end of the prom without a dance partner and being forced into a 3-year deal for Scott Schoeneweis. Strange, though, isn’t it, that Castillo’s deal didn’t “set the bar” for Iguchi and Eckstein? Maybe those guys should fire their agents.

The Padres also came to terms with Michael Barrett, though I don’t think they wanted to. He may be traded shortly.

The Phillies gave Geoff Jenkins a 2-year contract (ouch) and a one-year deal to Chad Durbin. Jenkins will likely strike out 195 times but may hit 30 HRs in CBP. I think they may have overpaid, but suppose they were desperate to replace some of the offense left behind by Aaron Rowand (who signed with the SF Giants). Durbin was a solid pickup for them — a guy who doesn’t have to be guaranteed a rotation spot, but will probably do some starting and be useful in their bullpen. I would have liked to have seen the Mets get Durbin for the same reasons, but suppose they didn’t want to give him an MLB contract. That’s fair — assuming they’re working on picking up a more skilled arm for a similarly short commitment. Phillies GM Pat Gillick is going with the same strategy he used last year: get as many arms as possible into the organization, and use them all as the season goes along. The Mets will likely stick to their plan of finding seven relievers to go with their five starters — though hopefully the seventh reliever will be allowed to pitch more than twice a month.

By the way the Phillies also signed Andy Tracy — who was Mets property last season — and veteran LHP Vic Darensbourg to minor league contracts and extended to them ST invites. Tracy had a nice year for the Zephyrs but as a 33-year-old, LH-hitting first baseman wasn’t going anywhere with the Mets. Darensbourg is one of those “little lefties” who keeps showing up in spring training for somebody every year. I think his turn with the Mets was 2004, and he wasn’t very impressive.

The Astros signed Chad Paronto to a one-year deal. I’m assuming this is a MLB contract, and again I can’t fault the Mets for passing — he’s another guy who would have been nice on a minor league deal. Paronto has the girth to fill the wide spot on the bullpen bench left by the butts of Chad Qualls and Brad Lidge. How he’ll pitch is another story.

The Royals signed former Met Matt Peterson to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. The nostalgic side of me would have liked to have seen Peterson with the Mets again. However I’m sure they have good reason for passing on him.

The Cardinals signed D’Angelo Jimenez to a minor league deal. Presumably he’ll add depth to the middle infield with Eckstein departing.

The Braves signed Javy Lopez to a minor league contract. Not sure why he thought he could take a year off, but whatever. If he can still hit the Braves may have trade bait for an AL team looking for a DH at the deadline.

The Rockies signed Kip Wells and Mark Redman to one-year deals. Can’t say I’m jealous.

The Cubs signed Kosuke Fukudome to a four-year deal. That’s a big gamble for a guy with no MLB experience. Obviously the Mets can’t sign any position players from Japan until everyone forgets the Kaz Matsui debacle (and they certainly couldn’t sign a guy with “Fuk-u” in his name). I’ll be pulling for Fukudome — except when he plays against the Mets — as I enjoyed watching him in the World Baseball Classic.

The Kansas City Royals signed LH reliever Ron Mahay to a two-year deal. Who do they think they are? When are the Royals going to need a LOOGY?

The Brewers have signed Gabe Kapler to a one-year deal. Like Lopez, he also took a year off — though he gave managing a try. Should be interesting to see how “pumped” he looks in his return.

The Tigers were able to negotiate a 3-year extension with newly acquired Dontrelle Willis. The more I think about it, the more it disappoints me that D-Train didn’t make it to Queens — he seems to be the type of guy who is bound to wind up in NYC eventually. He’s still young, and there’s still time.

Finally, the Mets signed no one since Matt Wise, who has been added to an impressive offseason list of pitching acquisitions that also includes Brian Stokes and Stephen Register. For those keeping score, the Mets also subtracted Guillermo Mota, Juan Padilla, Dave Williams, and Aaron Sele since the end of the 2007 season.

It’s all but official — the former Twins pitcher Carlos Silva has accepted a contract offer from the Seattle Mariners.

The deal is four years, $44M. The Mets surely could have afforded that deal, but apparently never made an offer. My guess is that either there’s something they don’t like about Silva — because in this market, that seems like a pretty fair contract — or Omar Minaya is dead-set on adding an ace before Opening Day.

In a way, I can sort of understand the Mets not wanting to get locked into a four-year deal for a guy who projects as a middle- to back-end starter. However, after the Lastings Milledge trade, they made it crystal clear that the team is building for 2008. Silva undoubtedly would be a key piece to the ’08 puzzle.

Let’s hope Omar has something really special brewing … and by special, I don’t mean Livan Hernandez nor Bartolo Colon.

In a move designed to bolster the bullpen, the Mets have signed reliever Matt Wise to a very cheap, one-year, $1.25M deal.

Though I’m 100 percent behind this pickup, it’s kind of disappointing to consider that this is one of the most exciting moves of the offseason.

Wise is more or less guaranteed some type of role in Willie Randolph’s bullpen, and has been successful as a setup man in the past. He’s coming off a down year but hopefully is due for an “up” year in 2008. My guess is that he may be used similarly to the way Randolph used Chad Bradford two years ago — in any inning from the fifth through extras. Whether he’ll be as effective is another question, however.

The signing of Wise closes a big hole in the Mets’ pen left behind by Bradford after the 2006 season — innings that weren’t well-filled by Guillermo Mota and Scott Schoeneweis, among others. Wise also provides some insurance in the event that the recuperating Duaner Sanchez either does not come back healthy or does not receive a belly buster DVD for Christmas (see right).

Wise is a tall and slender (6’4″, 195 lb.) rubber-armed reliever who throws a four-seam fastball, overhand curve, and changeup. He generally doesn’t give up many homeruns, and limits his walks. When he struggles, it’s usually due to losing his confidence and aiming the ball. His strikeout rate has been sporadic from year to year; in 2001 and 2005 he averaged a strikeout per inning but only struck out 27 in 44 innings in 2006. Last year, he K’d 43 in 54 innings, but posted a 4.19 ERA and a career high 1.45 WHIP. Compare that to his career WHIP of 1.26 and his ’05 WHIP of 0.96 and you may begin to understand why the Brewers non-tendered him — he appears to be on the downside of his career and through arbitration they would have had to pay him for his good years. It doesn’t help that Wise missed significant time in 2006 due to an elbow injury — so that could have something to do with his downfall. From the Mets’ point of view, though, this move is a no-brainer — he comes ultra-cheap in this market, with only a one-year commitment, and there’s a good chance he’ll be at least better than Mota was in ’07.

Now, if only Duaner Sanchez can get his arm in shape — and stay away from the beers and the Big Macs — the Mets’ bullpen might be a strength again in 2008.