40 minutes to go, and the last we've heard is that the two sides are "close" on a record deal. We should be hearing something soon. Stay tuned.

UPDATE [4:45pm]: Fifteen minutes to go and still nothing. When the Yankees traded for Randy Johnson a few years back they were granted an extension to their exclusive negotiating window, so there is definitely some precedent for it should the Mets and Santana be unable to come to terms by 5pm. The deal is in the best financial interests of baseball, so look for the commissioner's office to do whatever it can to make sure this contract gets done.

UPDATE [5:00pm]: Well, it's 5pm EST and there's no news. In this case, no news is *not* good news. I don't think it's going to fall through or anything, and I know that an extension window will be granted if necessary, but I really don't feel like sitting around in the fetal position for another 24, 48, or 72 hours while they hammer this thing out.

UPDATE [5:08pm]: According to Jon Heyman at SI.com, the Mets have requested a two-hour extension to finalize the details of their contract with Santana. If they are only asking for two hours (as opposed to two days or somewhere in between) they must be pretty close to getting this thing done. Stay positive, folks. We're almost there.

UPDATE [6:45pm]: According to Steve Popper and others, the deal is done. All that is left is for Santana to take a physical.

Per Metsblog, the Mets have acquired Johan Santana from the Twins for Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.

More as it develops.

[Update] USA Today has more. The deal hinges on the a contract extension that the Mets must negotiate in the next 72 hours, or Santana can veto the deal.

[UPDATE @ 4:44pm by Eric]: The Twins shot themselves in the foot by not jumping on a Phil Hughes or John Lester deal, and Twins fans are not happy, to say the least. I think it was a pretty good deal for both teams, given the circumstances. Santana had one year left on his contract, and considering that the Yankees may not have even had an offer on the table anymore and the Sox's interest in Santana was tepid at best, the Twins took the best, possibly only, offer they had.

Of course, they could have just hung on to Santana. One year plus two first rounders might have been nice. Either way, assuming the Mets lock Santana up in the next three days, their starting rotation for 2008 and beyond just got a whole lot better.

[UPDATE @ 5:30pm by Eric]: Philly fans aren't happy, so we can be excited about that, too. Whatever comes of Gomez, Guerra, Humber and Mulvey, those results will be revealed on another day. Today, right now, it's really effing exciting to be a Met fan. Arguably the best pitcher in baseball is coming to Queens, and the would-be 2008 Mets are a whole lot better today than they were a day ago. Pending a contract extension, of course.

The Mets announced their 2008 schedule on Tuesday, and once again the schedule-makers and the interleague-play-istas have conspired against us. In addition to our usual treat of six games against the Yankees, the Mets draw three-game sets against the Angels, Mariners and Rangers. Here is the breakdown by opponent.

Opponent	Games	Home	Away
Marlins	18	9	9
Braves	18	9	9
Phillies	18	9	9
Nationals	18	9	9
Pirates	7	3	4
Reds	7	3	4
Carinals	7	3	4
Astros	7	4	3
Brewers	6	3	3
Cubs	6	4	2
Rockies	9	3	6
Dodgers	7	4	3
Padres	7	3	4
Diamondbacks	6	3	3
Giants	6	3	3
Yankees	6	3	3
Rangers	3	3	0
Angels	3	0	3
Mariners	3	3	0

The Mets get the unfavorable draw of nine games against the NL Champion Rockies, though at least for their bats' sakes they will play six of them in Denver. The Mets open the season on April 1st with three games in Florida and close the season -- and their regular season tour at Shea Stadium -- with three against those same Marlins on September 26th, 27th and 28th. That last one will be a hot ticket, so get on line (or online) early when the box office opens.

According to Adam Rubin's blog, the Mets have set a 4:15 conference call to discuss Moises Alou and Damion Easley. The former had a $7.5 million team option for 2008, and the latter was a free agent.

Details to come later.

Update [4:56pm by Blackfish]: The details are in, and they have indeed picked up Alou's option and signed Easley to a one-year, $950,000 contract.

The Alou option was really a no-brainer given his great semi-season. As for Easley, he's coming off a pretty severe ankle injury, and he's getting up there in age at 38. That said, the cost isn't prohibitive, and the team won't be relying on him for much.

CW11 (formerly WB11, formerly WPIX) has released their Mets' television schedule for the upcoming season. CW11 will air four spring training games and 25 regular season games, with the regular season variety all available in high definition. The games will be produced by SNY -- as they were in 2006 -- and will feature the same on-air talent as the Mets' own cable network.

Click the image below for the full schedule.

According to the Korea Times, the Mets have reportedly signed Chan Ho Park to a one-year, 3 million dollar contract. Park is expected to compete for the fifth starter's job.

Back in December, I actually suggested the Mets sign Park over at MetsGeek. His component ratios were among the best of the remaining pitchers available via free agency (6.32 K/9, 2.90 BB/9). He's no spring chicken at 34 years old, and he's not a durable pitcher, but at that price he is probably worth a look.

UPDATE [2:33pm by Eric Simon]: Per ESPN.com, (and anonymous in the comments here) the deal is only guaranteed for $600,000 with the remainder of the reported $2.4 million attainable via innings pitched thresholds. Not a terrible signing by any means.

Mets pitcher Dave Williams had surgery on a herniated disk in his neck today. There's no word yet as to how much time he'll miss, but it could be fairly significant (Steve's Trachsel's herniated disk sidelined him four months a couple years ago).

Williams's role with the team wasn't very clearly defined. He planned on competing for the fifth starter's job and was a favorite for the long relief post vacated by Darren Oliver. Last year Williams filled in admirably as a spot starter late in the season, going 3-1 with a 5.59 ERA.

It certainly does bring the recent signing of Aaron Sele into a new light. It seems likely the team knew about the injury and searched for a capable replacement. Despite their ages and pitching from different sides of the rubber, they're pretty similar guys: both had K/9's under 5.00 and BB/9's of 2.61 last season.

Also, from that same article, the Mets officially signed Ruben Sierra in a move that surprised no one. I just can't see him making the team when the Mets have too many outfielders as it is and another good clubhouse guy, Julio Franco, also on the roster.

• Manny Acta to replace Frank Robinson as Nationals' manager

  Third base coach Manny Acta, who managed the Dominican Republic in this year's World Baseball Classic, is set to leave the Mets' hot corner to manage the Washington Nationals. An announcement is expected this week. It's not yet clear who will replace Acta at third base, be it first base coach Sandy Alomar, bench coach Jerry Manual, someone else from within the Mets' organization (Ken Oberkfell, Howard Johnson) or someone outside the organization entirely. It's a great opportunity for Acta, who seemed a genuinely nice guy and was well regarded in his time with the Mets.

• New Mets ballpark to be called "CitiField"

  The Mets have announced a 20-year partnership with CitiCorp which will include naming rights for their new ballpark, slated to open in 2009. News of the agreement was first leaked by Anthony De Rosa of Hot Foot Blog, a report that was subsequently mentioned in Newsday and the New York Post. Big win for blogging on that front.

  I give the Mets credit for somehow extracing $20 million big ones per year simply to affix "Citi" to the front of their park. The Phillies only netted $95 million over 25 years to call their home Citizen's Bank park, and that includes advertising; only $2.3 million of that was for the stadium naming rights. That the Mets' didn't have to include "Bank" in the name is a big win for themselves and for the fans, in my estimation at least. It's hard to turn down $20 million a year for anything, and the fact that the ballpark will still be somewhat respectably-monikered is a welcome sight.

• Still nothing concrete on Matsuzaka

  Despite reports that the Red Sox may have bid upwards of $45 million for Daisuke Matsuzaka, or subsequent theories that have him possibly traded to the Mets, there has apparently been no confirmation from Seibu as to whether they have accepted the highest bid, nor has the amount of that bid been confirmed. The deadline for accepting or rejecting that deal is Tuesday, so we'll know for sure the likely fate of Matsuzaka within a few days.

ESPN via the AP reveals that Guillermo Mota has been suspended for 50 games for a violation of the MLB drug policy. One might surmise that he starting doping in between his stints in Cleveland and New York. Mota was a free agent but considering the way he pitched for the Mets last season (minus the one pitch to Scott Spiezio) there was every reason to think that he would be back in orange-and-blue.

I'm still not sure this explains what is going on in the drawing to the left here. The suspension apparently doesn't apply to winter league or spring training games, so Mota will be out of action until the end of May. Depending on your feeling about players who have tested positive for performance enhancers, Mota still might be a reasonably-cheap pickup for four months of the season.

The Mets still have Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman and Duaner Sanchez under contract for next season, and will probably look to bring Chad Bradford back as well. I'm not entirely sure what the status of Pedro Feliciano is, but he shouldn't be eligible for free agency for a few years so the Mets can likely keep him if they want to.

UPDATE [11/2 @ 9:35am]: Mota has now apologized (Daily News via Baseball Musings):

"I have no one to blame but myself," Mota said in a statement that did not explain how he ran afoul of baseball's drug rules. "I take full responsibility for my actions and accept MLB's suspension. I used extremely poor judgment and deserve to be held accountable."

"To my teammates and the entire Mets organization, I am sorry. I truly regret what I did and hope that you can forgive me. To baseball fans everywhere, I understand that you are disappointed in me, and I don't blame you. I feel terrible and I promise this is the first and last time that this will happen. I am determined to prove to you that this was one mistake."

The steroid issue is a polarizing one. Mota is a cheater, at least as far as MLB is concerned. As a once-convicted cheater he is suspended for fifty games and is then is allowed to ply his trade some more. Whether that will be with the Mets or another team is yet to be determined. For those of you who take a hard stance against the use of PEDs, is there a point at which you forgive? Is everyone entitled to a reprieve from a single foolish transgression? When Mota completes his suspension, let's assume for a moment that he has taken his last performance enhancing drug. If he admits he has made a mistake (which he has) and he vows that it will not be repeated (that, too), will he forever be adorned with the scarlet "S" in the eyes of the fans? Or, having paid his debt to the society of baseball, is he free to resume life as it existed before? Let's say management forgives him long enough to re-sign him and he continues pitching like a bullpen ace when he returns, will we more easily forget (or forgive) what he did?

According to AP, Pedro Martinez's next start -- scheduled for tomorrow -- has been pushed back because of a sore hip, an injury we have been hearing whispers about for a couple of weeks now.

While he is technically going to miss the start, he may wind up pitching a couple of days later and not an entire turn through the rotation. Pedro was named to the NL All Star team -- along with five of his teammates -- and it's unclear whether he will participate. He was chosen last year as well but sat out.