Some Yankees and Mets news

The Yankees and Mets have both been in the news lately.

The Yankees and Johnny Damon’s camp has been going back and forth about why the two sides were unable to come to a contract agreement. Damon was on WFAN this past week to talk about it. The free agent left fielder did say the Yankees made a few offers that he declined. Despite declining those offers, Damon was hoping for more discussions in hopes of coming to an agreement.

Damon is still having thoughts of eventually returning to the Yankees. He realizes the team currently has a full roster but he maintains he will always have New York on his mind. The thought of the Yankees trading for him before the trading deadline was brought up. How interesting would that be?

The Mets General Manager Omar Minaya has gone out of his way to make it known that he has the control to sign free agents. I’m not sure I would be making that known. The Mets have made some very strange moves this offseason. First they signed Jason Bay which everyone thought was a good signing. Soon after that, the Red Sox announced the reason they did not sign him. They were concerned with some of his injury issues.

The Mets traded for Gary Matthews Jr. to be a part of their outfield. I get that the Mets needed another outfielder while Carlos Beltran recovers from surgery, but Mattews Jr.?? The guy is terrible.

The Mets lost out on pitchers John Lackey and then Ben Sheets. They didn’t appear to have much interest in Jon Garland. Its clear the Mets need to add to their starting rotation, but who is left?? John Smoltz seems to be the leading candidate with Braden Looper and Chien-Ming Wang as potential backups. You really have some issues if your leading candidate is John Smoltz.

The team did make a few signings of late. Fernando Tatis was re-signed this week. Tatis will likely platoon at first base with Daniel Murphy. Also signed was Frank Catalanotto. The veteran utility guy signed a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. He could be a good left handed pinch hitter off the bench for the Mets.