Is It Spring Yet? Applesauce: Four Mets File For Arbitration, Santana Unsure About Opening Day, Wilpon Speaks

Meet the Mets

Mike Pelfrey, Andres Torres, Ramon Ramirez and Manny Acosta all filed for arbitration on Friday. The Mets will try to reach a contract agreement with each of them over the next few weeks but if the two sides don't come to an agreement, a panel will decide the player's one year salary. Ted Berg took a look at Pelfrey and wonders whether it's fair to call him a disappointment.

Johan Santana has been rehabbing in Port St. Lucie for three weeks now but in an interview, he stated that he's unsure of his status for Opening Day. Although he's offering no promises, he did say his shoulder feels fine, which leads me to believe that he's just being cautious in his expectations. Or at least, that's what I'm tricking myself to believe at this point. Denial is a very powerful tool.

Speaking of denial, Fred Wilpon spoke with both Newsday and the Wall Street Journal at the Owners' Meetings and he had some...well...interesting things to say. Of course, he wants to keep the team and he thinks that they'll be fine in the long run. Okay, Fred. Whatever you say.

David Wright was a guest on Cliff Floyd's SiriusXM radio show and spoke about the potential of trade talk surrounding him and his expectations for the team in 2012.

Rising Apple took a look at what needs to go wrong with the other teams in the NL East in order for the Mets to contend. Hey...if I learned anything from Angels in the Outfield, I learned that "it could happen". Now where's Christopher Lloyd when you need him?

Finally, Toby, Ted and Patrick released their first Mostly Mets podcast of 2012 and they talk about exciting topics like the signings of Scott Hairston, Ronny Cedeno and Miguel Batista! They also welcome Amazin' Avenue's own Eno Sarris, who talks about the team's finances and the possible ramifications of their partnership with CRG.

Around the Majors

The Yankees woke up from their offseason-long slumber on Friday, making a couple of important acquisitions. First, they dealt C/DH Jesus Montero and P Hector Noesi to the Mariners for SP Michael Pineda and pitching prospect Jose Campos. This looks like a win for the Yankees in the aggregate, although it'll be interesting to see how the righty hitting Montero hits in Safeco and how the flyball pitcher Pineda pitches in Yankee Stadium. Soon thereafter, it was announced that the Yankees signed former Dodger Hiroki Kuroda to a one year deal worth $10 million. All of a sudden, they have a ton of rotation depth to play with between Sabathia, Pineda, Kuroda, Nova, Burnett, Hughes and Freddy Garcia.

The Rangers met with Prince Fielder yesterday, as the veteran first baseman is still trying to decide where to play. In other goings-on, Nolan Ryan is optimistic that the team will sign Yu Darvish by Wednesday's deadline.

Roy Oswalt is still on the market and is said to be looking for a one year, $8 million deal in order to reestablish himself for a bigger deal next year. I'm sure some contender will sign him soon but if it doesn't happen, I would love to see the Mets take a look at him on a one year deal. He'd be a solid placeholder for 2012 and if he stays healthy and pitches well, he could become nice trade bait at July's deadline.

The Braves agreed to terms with veteran shortstop Jack Wilson on a one year deal worth $1 million. There was plenty of complaining around the internet over the Ronny Cedeno signing earlier this week but personally, I'd much rather have Cedeno at $1.1 million than Wilson at $1 million.

The Cubs brought back Kerry Wood on a one year deal worth $3 million.

Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes is playing in the Dominican Winter League in order to showcase his talents to Major League teams. Cespedes says that six teams are hot on his trail.