The Twins will designate RHP Jason Marquis by assignment, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports.

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May 22, 5:18 pm: The Mets are not interested in signing Marquis, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.

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May 21, 6:40 pm: Marquis, 33, signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Twins during the off-season. He struggled with Minnesota this year, going 2-4 with an 8.47 ERA in seven starts, allowing 52 hits, 14 walks, and nine home runs with only 12 strikeouts in 34 innings.

Last season, Marquis went 0-1 with a 9.53 ERA in three starts for Arizona before breaking his leg in August. He went a combined 8-6 with a 4.43 ERA in 132 innings across 23 starts for Washington and Arizona in 2011.

In November, Ken Davidoff of Newsday (now with the New York Post) said the Mets were interested in acquiring Marquis to replace Chris Capuano and last August, Marquis told Andy Martino of the Daily News he “will definitely explore” the possibility of joining the Mets or Yankees this past winter.

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For Michael Baron’s thoughts on Marquis struggles, click here.

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Terry Collins said Ruben Tejada batted in an extended Spring Training game in Port St. Lucie yesterday.

Collins said Tejada did not play the field.

Last week, Collins told reporters Tejada had begun running in straight lines in Port St. Lucie, and could appear in rehab games as soon as Monday or Tuesday.

Tejada was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 7 after straining his right quadricep muscle while diving into first base against the Diamondbacks on May 6.

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R.A. Dickey (5-1, 3.75 ERA) will start for the Mets. Dickey threw six innings against the Reds his last time out and allowed four runs, three earned with a walk and his eighth home run allowed this season. He has allowed three earned runs or less in seven of his eight starts this year, posting an ERA of 2.54 in those seven starts. Dickey has made five appearances and four starts in his career against the Pirates, and he’s 1-2 with a 2.78 ERA in 32 1/3 innings against them.

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James McDonald (3-2, 2.68 ERA) will start for the Pirates. McDonald is off to a great start to his season, posting a strikeout-to-walk ratio in excess of 3:1 and is striking out batters at a rate of nearly one per inning. McDonald has yet to allow more than three earned runs in any of his starts this season and has a 2.25 ERA in the month of May. McDonald has made eight appearances and four starts against the Mets in his career, and he’s 1-1 with a 3.49 ERA 28 1/3 innings against them.

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Michael Baron: The one kink in Dickey’s armor has been the home run ball, and he was victimized by it yet again in his last start. Still, Dickey has been superb in general this year despite struggling with the feel for his knuckleball in the early going. He’s had a lot of movement on that pitch this season, and his location was inconsistent in his last outing in particular, but he does such a great job varying the speed of the pitch while complimenting it with a controlled fastball, typically thrown inside towards the right-handed hitter.

Prior to the June 3rd Sunday night game against the Cardinals, Mets bloggers will gather at a tailgate party, where all fans are welcome to come, enjoy some barbecue and talk some Mets baseball.

Festivities will kick off at 3:30 pm in the Roosevelt Avenue parking lot, and will wrap up shortly after 7:00 pm to give fans time to get to their seats to watch John Franco become the newest member of the Mets Hall of Fame.

In attendance will be The 7 Line‘s Darren Meenan, Kerel Cooper from On the Black, Brian Erni and Vinny Cartiglia from MetsBlog, SNY’s Ted Berg and others.

In 40 games this season, Ike Davis is hitting .161 (22-for-137) with four doubles, five home runs, 15 RBI with ten walks and 41 strikeouts.

On Sunday, Terry Collins suggested Davis could be sent to the minor leagues, telling reporters “There is nothing etched in stone. We will never, never say something is not going to happen. What we’re trying to do is make sure is we wring the rag dry.”

According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets are giving Davis up to a week to figure things out before considering demoting him to the minor leagues.

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Michael Baron: It’s been a long road for Ike Davis over the last year. He has spent most of it off the field rehabbing his ankle, and he hasn’t had much of a rest since he began building up strength in his legs last fall. It’s often forgotten that Davis has only one big league season under his belt, and not a full one at that. However, this is not the same hitter who wowed us two Springs ago and who was on-track to be in the All-Star Game last May. He is completely lost, visibly frustrated, and constantly tinkering with things on the fly. What’s more, his manager is now making suggestions about a possible demotion to the minor leagues and the media is now in his face about the subject – that has to impact his confidence. With that said, the results are what they are, and so it might benefit Ike to go back to Buffalo, get out of the daily spotlight, work on his mechanics and approach, and enjoy some success again before returning.

This team does need a healthy, productive and clear-headed Ike Davis, but right now, he is hurting them more than he’s helping.

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Mike Nichols: I’m conflicted on this issue. On one hand I’d like to see Davis work out his issues here at the big league level. Doing so may help his confidence, especially if/when he struggles down the line. Then he will know he’ll be able to work it out here instead of being sent to the minors in the back of head.

On the other hand, he is severely hurting the ball club and can no longer be hidden in the lineup. As Baron said, Davis is constantly changing his approach at the plate. His hands are never in the same position on consecutive at-bats and he is always out in front. Even with all of that and the glaring .161 average on the scoreboard, lately he is hitting the ball hard, it just isn’t finding spots to drop in, but that only seems to frustrate Davis even more. With all that being said, Davis needs to work this out, quickly, or this may not be a debate anymore, the only choice will be a trip to Buffalo.

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Brian Erni: I’m with Nichols. Some fans have been asking me where I stand on this for about a week now, and at first, I was adamantly against sending Ike down. But when Miami demoted Gaby Sanchez last weekend, it made me stop and rethink the issue a bit. I still think the Mets will lose a step defensively if they’re without Davis for a period of time, but let’s face it: this isn’t Doug Mientkiewicz. The Mets have a lot invested in Ike, and a huge part of that is his offense. If Ike is part of the long-term solution here (which I still think he is), they need to get this sorted out and in a hurry.

Right now, it’s painful to watch, and as they say: desperate times call for desperate measures…

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Vinny Cartiglia: Over 85 percent of those who responded on Twitter and Facebook believe Ike should get sent down; and I agree. I think most fans understand how important Ike is to this Mets lineup, but he is about as ineffective as a Major League hitter can get right now. A brief stint in Triple-A could get him back to his 2011 pre-injury form, which is what we all want to see.

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Here are several fan responses to the question on the MetsBlog Facebook page.

To see the rest of the fans comments and join the discussion on Facebook, click here.

In 15 games combined with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Buffalo, Elvin Ramirez is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA, allowing just ten hits and seven walks while striking out 26 in 22 innings this season.

Since his promotion to Triple-A, Ramirez, 24, is 2-0, having allowed just three hits while striking out ten in nine innings over seven starts.

Ramirez was originally signed by the Mets as a non-drafted free agent in 2004, but was lost in the Rule 5 draft to the Nationals in 2010. However, he was returned to the Mets last October after missing the entire 2011 season due to shoulder surgery last March.

In 2010, Ramirez went 4-4 with a 4.16 ERA in 80 innings with 72 strikeouts in 52 games between Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton.

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Michael Baron: Statistically speaking, it appears Ramirez is emerging as a possible candidate for the big league roster. He is a hard thrower with a fastball in the mid to upper 90s and can touch 100 mph as needed. He is a groundball pitcher thanks to a good sinker which he is throwing for strikes. He’s seen his strikeout rate increase substantially this season and when opponents are making contact, nothing is overly loud off the bat, as evident by his .132 opposing batting average. Ramirez might have made the Nationals Opening Day roster last year if not for his shoulder injury, but it looks like that injury could have been a blessing in disguise for the Mets as the Nationals chose to return a live arm for the sum total of $25,000.

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Toby Hyde: Ramirez is an interesting arm. He always threw hard, but had lousy control. Then, in the fall of 2010, he was throwing his hardest, and in a brief time in winter ball seemed to solve his control issues. After missing all of last season. he’s now working with a good hard fastball around 94 mph with a slider and a change-up. I’ve seen some pretty decent changeups from him with good arm speed and sink.

What lies ahead? The big leagues. And soon.

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For complete coverage of the Mets minor leagues, be sure to check out SNY’s Mets Minor League Blog.

Nationals: Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound for the Nationals as they try to win their second game in a row in Philadelphia. Bryce Harper continues to get back at the Phillies for the hit by pitch by getting on base. He picked up two more singles Monday night and stole a base, giving him a .474 OBP against Philadelphia.

Phillies: Roy Halladay takes the mound against the Nationals Tuesday night. Roy may be showing his age of 35 years this season. His walks rose from 1.3 to 1.7 per nine innings, and his strikeouts fell from 8.5 to 7.0 per nine IP. Those numbers remain very good, but with that slide comes a higher ERA. Roy remains a an iron man, however, having pitched the most innings and faced the most batters in the National League this year.

Braves: Brandon Beachy takes on the Reds tonight, sporting the best ERA in the majors at 1.33. While Mike Minor allowed four home runs Monday, including one to pitcher Mike Leake, Beachy allowed just one all season. In 54 innings this season, Beachy faced a bases loaded situation just once and gave up a sacrifice fly.

Marlins: The Marlins try to take another game from Colorado as they send Ricky Nolasco to the mound. The many injuries on Miami presents an opportunity for Austin Kearns. His four for four Monday night raised his averages to .362/.423/.638, with seven of his 17 hits going for extra bases. It helps that he’s seen mostly left-handed pitching this season.

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Visit Baseball Musings for more coverage of all of major league baseball.

These are the Mets’ 2012 Stars and Stripes caps which will be worn on Memorial Day, July 4th, and September 11th this season:

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Michael Baron: I collect the Stars and Stripes hats every year, but I am not so sure I’ll be acquiring one of these this year. I appreciate what they stand for very much – the camouflage looks funny to me, especially on the blue hat where it obviously clashes with the Mets’ traditional color scheme. But, I am no fashion expert by any means, as evident by my wardrobe.

By the way, the Mets have not yet worn their alternate black uniform in 2012, and that is perfectly ok with me…

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