A few days after minor leaguer Jorge A. Reyes was suspended for 100 games for violating baseball’s drug policy for the second time, the Mets have another steroid-related issue to deal with.

According to the Associated Press, the investigators driving George Mitchell’s steroid probe have requested the medical records of several ballplayers from the Baltimore Orioles. The players include Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Grimsley, David Segui, Jerry Hairston, Jr., and current New Orleans Zephyr Fernando Tatis.

The reasoning behind the request has not been reported, but it’s obvious that there is reason to believe that Mitchell’s agents suspect these players of using performance-enhancing narcotics.

After the revelation of former bat boy-turned-drug dealer Kirk Radomski, followed by the Reyes suspension, and compounded by the suspension currently being served by Guillermo Mota, the Mets appear to be falling deeper and deeper into darkness of baseball’s most embarrassing issue. So far, the organization has been able to skirt the subject. PR man Jay Horwitz deserves a gold medal for the remarkably effective damage control he’s executed thus far, especially considering that he’s operating in the most sensitive media outlet in the world. Though, his effectiveness is due in part to the fact that fans don’t want to hear bad news about their heroes. As juicy a story steroids may be, it simply doesn’t sell. Before finding out that a local hero is a user, New York fans want to hear that Barry Bonds has been brought to justice. The steroid issue is something people want unraveled away from home. Unfortunately, the deeper this story goes, the closer it’s getting to Flushing.

Omar has been too quiet. Something has to be up. Unless we really think the signing of Brian Lawrence has been Minaya’s biggest project in this young season.

Over at the Mets blog on SNY, Ted Berg has a list of second basemen that the Mets might consider pursuing: Jorge Cantu, Marco Scutaro, Jamey Carroll, and Mike Fontenot. Other than Cantu, a strange list, and what makes it even stranger is that Berg dismisses Cantu as “not that good” and “he can’t really hit”.

Hmmm …

Personally, I’m not sure why the Mets would trade able-bodied players (such as Ramon Castro, as Berg suggests) for Scutaro, Carroll, or Fontenot, when they could just as easily get Jeff Keppinger back for a bag of balls or convince Fernando Vina to come out of retirement. Those proposed options are not significant upgrades over the current Damion Easley / Ruben Gotay combo.

Cantu, however, is intriguing. After hitting 28 homers and driving in 117 in 2005, his production fell off in 2006 — though not so much to bury him. The 14 HRs, 62 RBI, and .249 average are not that far from Valentin’s output last year. His glove is not the greatest, but neither was Valentin’s this time last year. Berg points to weak OBPs as indicators that Cantu stinks, but I don’t buy it. Take a look at Jeff Kent’s OBP in his early years and you’ll see strikingly similar numbers (Kent, in fact, was a very similar player at the same age). Young batters — particularly sluggers — tend to have a lower OBP because they are free swingers. As they mature, and continue to hit for power, they learn to lay off pitches and take their walks. At only 25 years old, and with his value at an all-time low, now is the time to roll the dice for a talent such as Jorge Cantu. If nothing else, his cheesy mustache compares favorably to Valentin’s.

Other than Cantu, the only other possibilities would be Ronny Belliard, Jose Castillo, or maybe Mark Grudzielanek. Belliard’s time as a starter with the Nationals is over now that Cristian Guzman has returned. Belliard has been pining to return to his New York City roots, and should come cheap. However, the Mets had little to no interest in him when he was a desperate free agent, so it’s hard to see them trading for him. Grudzielanek might be a good fit, but he probably isn’t available. The emergence of Esteban German suggests that the Royals could make Grudzielanek available, but that’s just a guess. He’s the only established veteran on the team other than the oft-injured Mike Sweeney, so they may want to keep him around to set an example for the youngsters.

On the other hand, Jose Castillo could be had, as he’s stuck behind Freddie Sanchez at second and Jose Bautista at third. His average is currently hovering around the Mendoza line, and the Pirates have had it with his work ethic. Like Cantu, he’s been a slugger in the past, and is only 26 — far from washed up. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good — it certainly worked out well for Oliver Perez.

In the end, I’m not so sure Omar Minaya is shopping for a second sacker. With Shawn Green picking up the slack at the bottom of the order, the Mets may be OK giving Ruben Gotay a chance to reclaim his once-promising career (see my full take on Gotay tomorrow afternoon at FlushingUniversity). If that’s the case, Minaya is more likely working the phones hard for some legitimate bullpen help and possibly a power-hitting reserve outfielder to help Endy Chavez spell Moises Alou — the role that Ben Johnson might be filling if not for a shoulder injury.

How did it ever come to this?

After the Mets made Moises Alou their first, and most significant, free agent signing, the next thing Omar Minaya did was make sure he had plenty of horses behind the fragile Alou. As good as Alou is, it would have been wishful thinking — or downright stupidity — to expect Moises to play in more than 100 – 125 games. It’s hard to get any 40-year-old to play more than that (though HGH might help), much less someone like Alou, who already has multiple ailments and gives his body a daily beating with his all-out play.

Knowing that, Minaya wasn’t going to count on just Lastings Milledge to be the fill-in. He made sure to have a backup plan (Ben Johnson), and a backup to the backup plan (David Newhan), and one more emergency backup (Damion Easley). And if that wasn’t enough, he made sure to sign Chip Ambres, who played about half a season with the Kansas City Royals as their starting centerfielder.

Even after all that planning, here it is in early May and it looks very possible that the next outfielder the Mets promote is Ricky Ledee.

Hopefully, it won’t come to that. Maybe all Moises needs to do is drain his right knee, get some kind of shot, and he’ll be good to go in a few days.

If not, however, and Alou needs to be placed on the DL, guess who’s most likely to join the Mets?

Ricky Luh – DEE.

That’s because Blastings Thrilledge — the first man in line — is out indefinitely with a foot injury, the second man in line, Ben Johnson, is on the DL since spraining his shoulder in mid-April, and top prospect Carlos Gomez isn’t quite ready for prime time. Which means that if an outfielder is to be brought up, it’s between Chip Ambres and Ricky Ledee. Ledee (.266) is batting six points higher than Ambres (.260), but that’s not why he’ll get the call. The real reason is Willie Randolph, who has some illogical trust and bond in the talentless journeyman.

Though he never panned out as the superstar, 5-tool player the Yankees hyped him as, Ricky Ledee must have done something in his 192-game career in the Bronx (6-for-10 in the ’98 World Series?), because it had a lasting impression on then-coach Willie Randolph. Ledee’s most productive season came as a 26-year-old, when he bounced from the Yankees to the Indians to the Rangers and batted .236 with 13 homeruns and 77 RBI in 467 at-bats. Since that year, he’s meandered around the National League as a fifth outfielder and pinch-hitter, producing a .246 career batting average. His main role with the bat is underwhelming; he’s hit .213 as a pinch-hitter over the last three years. Similarly, his glove is adequate at best in this stage of his career, and though once fleet of foot, is not much of an advantage on the bases (though he won’t necessarily clog them). Plainly put, the 33-year-old Ricky Ledee is an all-around, average to below-average player, offering no one particularly strong tool. In other words, he’s Karim Garcia minus the off-field problems with alcohol — or, another “good guy to have in the clubhouse”.

Luckily, if Alou does go on the DL and Ledee is promoted, chances are slim he’d do more than occasionally pinch-hit. Ruben Gotay looks strong enough defensively to allow Easley to platoon with Endy Chavez and/or David Newhan while Alou recovers. And who knows, maybe I’m way off base here. Perhaps the Mets are looking to promote the swift-running Ambres — to have as a pinch-running option — or maybe they’re thinking about bringing up Andy Tracy or Fernando Tatis to give David Wright an occasional breather at third base. With Endy, Newhan, and Easley around, it’s not a necessity to replace Alou on the roster with another outfielder.

Of course, the best thing would be for Moises to not go on the DL. Maybe he can stave off the pain until Thrilledge or Johnson are healed.

Not to be outdone by the crosstown Yanks, the New York Mets made their own big splash on Sunday, signing righthanded pitcher Brian Lawrence.

It’s interesting, actually, that the Mets beat the Yankees to Lawrence, considering that the “other” New York team is currently counting on pitchers named Darrel Rasner, Jake DeSalvo, and Chase Wright to fill out their rotation. Perhaps they were too preoccupied with the signing of the forty-something, retired / unretired guy from Texas.

What’s significant about the Lawrence signing is that the Mets likely made some kind of promise to him in regard to pitching in the big leagues. Lawrence began the season on the DL, and when he was eligible to come off, was sent on a rehab assignment with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. His numbers were not good — he started three games, allowed 32 hits in 19 innings, suffering through an 8.69 ERA (batters stroked .376 against him). Of course, it was a rehab assignment, so maybe he wasn’t throwing his full repertoire of pitches. Nonetheless, with numbers like that, it was surprising that Lawrence forced the issue and asked the Rockies to either promote him to the Major League roster or let him go. Considering that he did corner the Rockies into making a decision, and that the Tigers offered him a minor-league contract, it would make sense that the Mets gave him something signficant to sign on. Is Mike Pelfrey bound for New Orleans, for example?

Originally, Lawrence was signed to fill out the back-end of the Colorado rotation, and he pitched well enough in spring training to earn a spot. However, the Rockies wanted to be cautious with the righthander, as he was coming off surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum. He was expected to join the team by May, but unfortunately for him, Josh Fogg (5.67 ERA) and Taylor Buchholz (8.04 ERA) proved to be diehard Jesus freaks, while Lawrence only attends church on Sundays. And faith is not something you can fake.

The big question is, do we care that Brian Lawrence is an option? Before the shoulder surgery that knocked out his 2006 season, he was an average pitcher who pitched a lot of innings, gave up a lot of hits, and won more than he lost only once in five big-league seasons (that one winning year was 15-14). Essentially, he’s a young Steve Trachsel, except that he hasn’t experienced anywhere near the success that Trax had (scary, isn’t it?).

I guess Lawrence is a better option than Chan Ho Park (or Jose Lima, for that matter), but what the Mets need is a bonafide, veteran relief pitcher — not another starter. Though, stockpiling starters is never a bad idea if you can get veterans to accept minor league assignments — especially after witnessing the epidemic the Yankees have suffered. Even if the Mets don’t find him useful, if he can put up decent numbers in AAA, they may be able to turn him over at the trade deadline. Remarkably, several teams expressed interest in the mediocre righty, including the Tigers, Orioles, Padres, and Mariners.