The Mets continue to shop Ike Davis, but there’s no guarantee he will be moved before spring training.
The task of finding a taker for the slugger who had a horrific 2013 season has become more difficult after free agent first basemen such as Corey Hart (Seattle), James Loney (Tampa Bay) and Justin Morneau (Colorado) found landing spots.
“We’re still talking to a number of teams,” general manager Sandy Alderson said Tuesday. “I can’t say anything will happen. If we don’t get what we want in return, we’ll have to think of other options, which would be to wait or to even go into spring training with more than one [first basemen].”
The Brewers figure to be a natural fit for Davis, but Brewers GM Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Tuesday: “It’s pretty quiet.”
Same goes for the Mets, as Alderson didn’t promise any more major upgrades.
“I’d expect there’d be some additions,” Alderson said. “I don’t know how significant, based on paper.”
And he reiterated the possibility of Ruben Tejada staying as the regular shortstop.
“I think it is more likely, certainly, than it was a couple of months ago, let’s say, but we’ve improved the team at other positions, so giving Ruben a chance to reestablish himself as an everyday player isn’t such a bad thing,” Alderson said.
Stephen Drew remains available, but remains a long shot.
At second base, Daniel Murphy made it clear he’d like to stick around.
“I want to be here,” Murphy said after dressing up as Santa for the Mets holiday party for local schools at Citi Field. “I think this organization is headed in the right direction and I really want to be a part of it.”
If the turnaround is to start anytime soon, Bartolo Colon will need to live up to the two-year, $20 million contract he signed over the weekend. Despite being 40, having a performance-enhancing drug suspension on his résumé and a decidedly unathletic build, Alderson thinks Colon was worth a second year.
“Based on the year he had last year and the last couple of years and based on our sense of his physical condition — and that relates primarily to the structure of his shoulder and elbow as opposed to anything else — the talent, performance reward merited the risk for two-year deal,” Alderson said.
Alderson added he’s not in the market for another big-name starting pitcher, since the team wants its young pitching to contribute.
Not surprisingly, the Mets are not planning to pursue Masahiro Tanaka if the Japanese right-hander is posted.
“I think that’s very unlikely,” Alderson said. “[The rotation] is not an area of extraordinary need. Obviously, you’d love to have a quality starting pitcher anytime one became available, but realistically I don’t think it’s an area of weakness.”
Despite seeing Matt Harvey go down with an elbow injury, Zack Wheeler isn’t altering his throwing program.
“With stuff like that, Tommy John [surgery], there’s not really anything you can do,” Wheeler said. “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. With guys who throw hard, it’s more than likely going to happen at some point in your career. It’s just part of it.”
And he intends to be in contention for the start on Opening Day.
“I’m definitely going to try to compete for it in spring training,” Wheeler said. “Our starting pitching is pretty strong, so it’s going to be hard to do.”
Bobby Parnell, coming off neck surgery, is expected to visit Dr. Robert Watkins in California next month. Alderson is “fairly confident” Parnell will be back by spring training.
“He’s about to start throwing again,” Alderson said. “We don’t anticipate any problems, but that’s one of the reasons to come back to New York to be seen. Not necessarily for a surgical follow up, but for an overall review. But right now, we don’t have any reason to believe he won’t be ready.”
If not, Vic Black could be an option as closer.