Meanwhile, the Mets are 6–3 in Livan Hernandez’s nine starts this season, though five of the six wins were against the Braves, Pirates, Nationals, Marlins and Brewers.

Eventually, the Mets will promote Oliver Perez, who will re-join John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana, meaning one of Redding or Hernandez will get bumped from the rotation.

I would think Redding will slot in to the long-relief, spot-starter role, while Hernandez is allowed more time to pitch.

Nevertheless, from what I can gather, the Mets continue to keep an eye around baseball for an ‘experienced, reliable, consistent starting pitcher,’ to be counted on, every five days, for the back of their rotation.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, during the last few weeks, pitchers like Javier Vazquez, Jonathan Sanchez, Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn, Jon Garland, Roy Oswalt, Jason Marquis, Jake Peavy and Brad Penny could all be available, while Pedro Martinez remains unsigned as a free agent.

Sanchez, Peavy, Bedard and Oswalt will require a lot in return; Penny is too much of an injury risk, despite pitching well for the Red Sox; and Garland is having a poor season with the D’Backs.

The two guys from this list, who fit ‘experienced, reliable, consistent, back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher,’ would be Washburn and Marquis, both of whom are free agents at the end of this season, as well as Vazquez, who is under contract through 2010.

I’m not sure the Braves would ever deal a player under contract, in the middle of a pennant race, to the Mets, leaving Washburn and Marquis as players to watch as we get closer to the July 31 trade deadline.

If you remember, according to published reports, the Mets rejected a deal from the Cubs during the Winter Meetings that would have swapped Marquis for Aaron Heilman, who was instead traded to the Mariners for J.J. Putz.

Marquis was eventually traded to the Rockies, who are 13.5 games out of first place today and nine games under .500.

Update, 11:55 am

The D’Backs and free-agent RHP Jon Garland have agreed on a one-year deal, according to the Arizona Republic.

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com believes the deal is worth $8.5 million guarenteed money, while while Jon Heyman of SI.com says it is worth $6.25 million.

Original Post, 8:09 am:

Steve Gilbert of MLB.com believes the D’Backs may be closing in on a deal with free-agent RHP Jon Garland.

The Arizona Republic reported Garland recently rejected a two-year deal worth roughly $14 million.

…well, Andy Pettitte also rejected a one-year, $10 million offer, only to eventually accept a one-year, $5.5. million deal… so, i would not be surprised to see garland get downgraded as well…

…this is significant, actually, because garland’s price, plus pettitte’s, will likely indicate what Pedro Martinez and Randy Wolf will get, and could impact Ben Sheets, and could also put downward pressure on the annual price for Oliver Perez…

Speaking of pitchers…

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com says free-agent LHP Tom Glavine will soon meet with Braves GM Frank Wren.

Of the Mets, Heyman writes:

“They are hoping to land Perez after missing out on Lowe. While they have been looked at as the favorites for Perez, there’s still quite a discrepancy in where the sides stand (Perez seeks about $60 million over five years, while the Mets have been thinking more like $30 million over three). ”

“Randy Wolf, Jon Garland and Sheets are all part of the backup plan.  Some inside the organization are wondering whether one year for Sheets is wiser than five for Perez, though GM Omar Minaya loves Perez (even over Lowe), so the Mets may stretch a little to try to retain Perez.”

…i try to be a patient fan and let the chips fall where they may, but the media swirl around the same couple of names every day is starting to affect me a bit – it feels like a merry-go-round…if Ben Sheets is not considered to be healthy enough, the Mets should bring back Ollie, but five years and $60 million is outrageous…

Last week, Piecoro said free-agent RHP Jon Garland also rejected a contract offer from the D’Backs.

According to Piecoro, “The Diamondbacks are believed to have about $4 million left to spend for 2009,” and offered a one-year deal to Garland with two option years.

…so, like i said before, it’s now safe to assume garland and wolf are not interested in at least a one-year, $4 million deal… from what i can gather, garland has been on Omar Minaya’s radar, but i have no idea to what extent he is willing to pay… i do believe the Mets like wolf, but they’re unwilling to spend more than $6 million or so on on him… the buzz from around baseball suggests wolf is still seeking a long-term deal worth roughly $10 million per season…

…earlier in the off-season, garland had been looking for a two– or three-year deal, worth around $10 million per season, though i am not sure he can expect to get that today…

According to multiple reports, the D’Backs have interest in free-agent RHP Pedro Martinez, as well, though he would prefer to remain on the East Coast.

Speaking of pitchers…

The Daily Herald believes free-agent RHP Freddy Garcia will sign a contract by the end of this week, and has narrowed his decision down to the Mets, White Sox and Rangers.

Last week, however, the same newspaper said the White Sox were not inclined to sign Garcia, because they recently acquired Bartolo Colon.

“He had the lowest groundball percentage in the National League last season… His walk rate was the third highest in the league after Barry Zito and Ian Snell… And he has yet to pitch 200 innings in a season.”

Last night, on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove, Mets GM Omar Minaya had the following to say, when asked if Perez was his number one target from the current free-agent pitcher’s market:

“Well, I’m not going to disclose to you who is my number one target (laughs)… It’s a tricky situation because the agent, Scott Boras, controlled both Derek Lowe and Perez, so we decided to negotiate with Derek first, but we could have easily negotiated with Perez first…

“Perez might be the best option for us… We feel good with him, his a good teammate, you don’t know what to expect with him sometimes, pitching, or even hitting (laughs), but he’s fun, he’s your prototypical lefty… That being said, there are other guys out there… However, we are negotiating, we have been talking with Scott Boras about Oliver since the GM Meetings, slowly talking about him and it’s built up.”

To watch all of Minaya’s discussion about Perez and the starting pitcher’s market, courtesy of SNY, click here.

Yesterday, on WFAN, Mike Francesa said Perez could end up signing Minaya’s reported three-year, $30 million offer, according to a ‘field reporter.’

…personally, i feel there is little-to-no-chance of perez and boras accepting a low-ball, three-year, $30 million offer in mid-January… frankly, it would not surprise me to see perez end up signing just a one-year deal, like Kyle Lohse did, with a team like the Rangers, Dodgers or Cardinals, who could overpay on the dollars, while knowing it is only a short-term situation… then, perez can take his campaign to the road again next off-season, like lohse, who ended up signing a four-year deal the following winter… or, the Mets will have to wait on boras to create a market for perez, and who knows how that will end up…

…in other words, if it’s a four-year deal they’re talking about, i think the Mets are perez’s only real option, which reduces the money he’ll be offered… however, if it’s a one-year deal that’s in play, suddenly boras will have more teams to leverage against the Mets, which could raise perez’s salary for the year…

Nevertheless, Rosenthal adds, “Pedro Martinez also remains on Minaya’s radar, as does free-agent Ben Sheets, pending a review of his medical records.”

According to Piecoro, “The Diamondbacks are believed to have about $4 million left to spend for 2009.”

…so, from this, it’s safe to assume garland is not interested in at least a one-year, $4 million deal… from what i can gather, garland has been on Omar Minaya’s radar, but i have no idea to what extent he is willing to pay…

…earlier in the off-season, garland had been looking for a two– or three-year deal, worth around $10 million per season, though i am not sure he can expect to get that today…

By the way, according to Piecoro, the D’Backs also have interest in free agents Ben Sheets, Pedro Martinez and Jason Jennings.

Yesterday, I asked readers of MetsBlog.com what Perez was worth, and the more-than 4,400 people who voted essentially said he should get a four-year deal, which pays him roughly $13 million per season.

“He’s possibly one of those guys who can win the Cy Young award every year,” Billy Wagner told New York Post yesterday, when asked about Perez.  “It’s just, which Ollie is going to show up?”

From what I can gather, free agent Randy Wolf is likely to sign for between $7 and $10 million, but the Mets are unlikely to offer more than $5 million – the same can most likely be said for free agents Jon Garland and Pedro Martinez.

Meanwhile, people around baseball believe free agent Ben Sheets is open to accepting a one-year deal, for roughly $6 million with major incentives – such as Brad Penny and John Smoltz accepted from the Red Sox.

However, Sheets is also a Type-A free agent and was offered arbitration by the Brewers, which means a club would lose a draft pick if it signed him.

The Blue Jays have been listening to offers for Roy Halladay, but there is no evidence they are seriously open to trading him – unless the deal included a top-flight pitching prospect I would assume.

Lastly, the buzz in San Francisco suggests the Giants will move Jonathan Sanchez or Noah Lowry, but will likely require a major-league bat in return.

Nevertheless, John Maine, Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey will be counted on to make 90 or so starts for the Mets in 2009, leaving 60 or so starts to come from other pitchers.

However, don’t forget, Maine is returning from shoulder surgery and Pelfrey is entering only his second full major-league season – not to mention Santana had knee surgery in October.  In other words, nothing is a given in the current starting rotation.  So, the Mets need to be very careful with how they structure those 60 other starts.

The Mets should use the same money it will cost to keep Perez, and instead sign Sheets and one of Garland, Wolf or Martinez, or a pitcher acquired by trade, who, with Tim Redding and Jon Niese, will be more than capable of filling the missing 60 starts, and also can be called upon in case Maine, Pelfrey or Santana ever become unavailable.

Ben Shpigel of the New York Times believes the Mets have not made an offer to Perez, despite what had been reported by Heyman, who said earlier in the week that Omar Minaya made a three-year offer.

…i was recently told the same thing by some one close to the team, and i notice other people writing the same…

…again, there may be some confusion about the definition of ‘offer.’ …seriously …it happens all the time… i’m starting to realize that half of what goes on in these reports comes down to interpretation, some times from the same source to different reporters… anyway, i’ll save that for another day…

Nevertheless, Shpigel says the Mets will make an offer to Perez in the next day or so – again, as has been similarly reported by other outlets.

…from what i can gather, Scott Boras can likely get a four-year, $48 million deal for perez, if not more… the thing is, while they may be open to giving him a four-year deal, i do not believe the Mets plan to offer perez more than they were rumored to have offered lowe, i.e., $12 million per season… i believe $12 million would be the absolute max… in other words, perez is far from a slam dunk…

…for what it’s worth, at the start of the off-season, i felt the Mets had zero intention of bringing perez back, despite reports that minaya preferred him to lowe – reports, by the way, that i believe have been overstated… they like perez, don’t get me wrong, i just feel lots of people in management still see him as too much of an unknown – emotionally and physically – and they’re not confident in what he’ll deliver in exchange for such a steep price tag…

By the way, also on the MLB Network, Heyman said the Mets may look at Ben Sheets or Randy Wolf, “if they don’t get Perez.”

Shpigel makes a similar comment, writing, “They are also weighing a run at Sheets, but are wary of his injury history.”

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Omar Minaya told reporters today that his team has a 50–50 chance of re-signing Perez, according to Newsday’s David Lennon, who also appeared on Mets Hot Stove.

Also, Heyman says, while the Mets are interested in trading for Huston Street, they are still talking to the M’s about J.J. Putz, and remain interested in Pirates RHP Matt Capps.

…speaking of capps, i wonder if the Pirates would be interested in Aaron Heilman, in a direct swap, much like the Rockies reportedly rejected for street…capps and heilman are making essentially the same money, with the same number of years left, and such a deal would basically flip a relief pitcher to the Mets, in capps, while sending an affordable starter to the Pirates…

According to Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com, “Heilman has drawn interest from more than a dozen clubs.”

According to Heyman, if the Mets trade for Putz, he could be put in as a set-up man, which would be more difficult to do with a current free-agent closer.

Today, Rosenthal also said the Cardinals offered OF Rick Ankiel to the Mariners for Putz.

…so, as i said at the time, are we to assume the cost of putz for the Mets will be Ryan Church…if so, no thanks…

Heyman says the Mets have been in touch with the Dodgers and Cubs, though every team they speak to requests Jon Niese.

…i see no way the Mets deal niese…1) Fred Wilpon loves the kid, and he’s not shy in saying so, and 2) it would mean the Mets have no choice but to acquire a second starting pitcher…

“They also plan to meet with the agents for Randy Wolf and Jon Garland,” Stark reports.

Speaking of starting pitchers…

Stark also reports the Phillies are not pursuing Lowe, despite reports that suggest otherwise.

The Braves offered Burnett a five-year, $80 million contract, according to Gerry Fraley of FoxSports.com, however a report on MLB.com disagrees.

The Cubs and Padres continue to discuss Jake Peavy, while wrangling in the Phillies, Twins and Orioles, in an effort to get a deal done, explains MLB Trade Rumors.