While researching something else, I noticed that veteran righthanders Chad Durbin, Jeremy Bonderman, and Kevin Millwood are still on the free agent market.

The 33-year-old Durbin has been

As Sandy Alderson has told us, the Mets are not concerned with making the postseason in 2011. Further, they may have only $5M to play with on this winter’s free agents.

Considering those two factors, do ANY free agents make sense?

This is a difficult question, because it is hard to figure what exactly is the motivation for signing free agents for the 2011 season. Considering that nearly every free agent is over the age of 30, signing one with the idea of keeping him for 2012 / 2013 doesn’t seem likely. I’m guessing that the team will sign short-term deals with a small handful of players who can fill holes and help the team stay out of last place. Additionally, they may look to sign some risk / reward types who can a) possibly give the Mets enough performance to push them toward a postseason berth; or b) become trading chips to deal to pennant chasers in return for younger talent in July.

These are pitchers coming off injury who likely will need to take incentive-laden contracts with minimal dollars guaranteed (i.e., far less than the six million it took to rebuild Steve Austin, astronaut).

Mets 5 Tigers 0

The hometown advantage continues … as does the “R.A. Dickey Story” …

Game Notes

R.A. Dickey tossed 8 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 4. This Hollywood story is showing no signs of ending anytime soon. He is the first pitcher in history to start his Mets career with 6 straight wins. Thank goodness John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Jon Niese all got injured at the same time and Dillon Gee crapped the bed in Buffalo or this guy would still be toiling in AAA.

Message to MLB: Jose Reyes is back. Jose went 3-for-4, including a leadoff triple and a solo homer, in scoring 3 runs. His defense has also stepped up the last few weeks.

Ike Davis had two singles and drove in two runs.

Ruben Tejada extended his hitting streak to 7 games, and is now hitting .255. No way you can trade away this guy for some rental like Cliff Lee.

Angel Pagan’s 10-game hitting streak came to an end, but more importantly, he left the game with an injury to his midsection / torso. Not good. The exact injury was not disclosed as of 9:45 PM after the game, but let’s hope it’s a minor tweak and not something major involving his back or oblique. In possibly related news, Cory Sullivan has been DFA’d by the Astros.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Tigers meet for the final time at 7:10 PM on Thursday night. Hisanori Takahashi faces Armando Galarraga.