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Per a report by Marty Noble for MLB.com, Carlos Beltran figures he has another two-and-a-half weeks of rehab left before he'll be ready to rejoin the Mets.

"That's what I have in mind. That's my goal." He said his problematic right knee has responded favorably to a recently-increased workload, and that his body feels energized and generally better since he intensified the workouts about two weeks ago. He acknowledged his schedule was tentative, but he seemed more encouraged than he was before the All-Star break and willing to deal with the pain his bruised knee presents.

Wearing a brace on the knee, Beltran said, "Being pain-free is unrealistic right now. Being able to come back 100 percent is not going to happen. ... Eighty, 85 percent, I'll take that. I feel I can manage myself like that. That is fine with me."

Beltran has been on the disabled list since June 22 but is considered a gigantic crybaby for failing to play through the pain of a potentially career-threatening injury to his knee.

In his press conference addressing the Tony Bernazard firing, Omar Minaya made a very explicit insinuation that Adam Rubin of the Daily News, who first broke the story of Bernazard's tantrums against Mets' minor leaguers, had an ulterior motive. Minaya stated that Rubin had lobbied for a job in the Mets organization. As user dcrockett17 pointed out, Rubin seemed to be the source of all the anti-Bernazard material, but regardless, this call-out looks like a seriously bad move by Minaya. Whether or not Rubin had another motive, Minaya is creating unnecessary controversy and definitely risking his job.

Rubin allegedly called Minaya "despicable" during the press conference and said he only inquired with Fred Wilpon about how to break into the industry. He went on to say, "I don’t know how I’m going to cover the team now… To make this type of accusation is obscene." He'll be on SNY at 5:30 EST according to Metsblog.com. (I won't get to see it, so update in the comments if you can).

Eric's got the partial transcript of the press conference on the way.

Transcription-y Update: Here is a transcript of part of the video post at SNY.tv. This is verbatim, so assume that all linguistic anomalies are Minaya-ese.

Omar Minaya: Once the reports came out, you know, of course we had to expedite more the investigation. Early in the process, early in the process, when the reports came out, I had to kind of tell myself, "Wow, these things are coming out." And I say this because coming from Adam Rubin, okay, and Adam, you gotta understand this, Adam, for the past couple of years, has lobby for a player development position. He has lobby myself, he has lobby Tony. So when these things came out I was kind of a little bit, I had to think about it. And I was a little bit, you know, somewhat, kind of, we gotta find out about this. We really have to do a thorough investigation of this.

<snip>

Adam Rubin: Is what you're alleging that I tried to tear Tony down so I could take his job? Is that what you're saying?

Omar Minaya: No, no, I'm not saying that. All I'm saying was, that I know that when you wrote the reports, but I am saying, that in the past, you have, have lobby for a player, for a for a job...

Adam Rubin: If I were interested in working in player development somewhere in the major leagues at some point in my life, how did that impact this situation at all?

Omar Minaya: I said, because, when the reports came out a lot of these things were cross... I said "Who's writing these reports?" and I said well okay who's writing the reports and in the back of my mind, Adam, you have told me you have told other people in the front office that you want to work for player development in the front office.

Adam Rubin: So what you're alleging is that.. the only conclusion I can draw from that is that you're trying to allege that I tried to tear everyone down so that I could take their position. Is that what you're saying?

Omar Minaya: Adam...

Adam Rubin: It seems pretty despicable to say that.

<snip>

Omar Minaya: Look, was Tony the most-liked person in the world? No, he was not. We know that. And Marty, and you've been around baseball a long time, and there's a lot of people that are not sometimes we don't like, ahh, and, you know, and they're, they've been good baseball people. But, you know, I could tell you that he may, was he the most more-liked person in the world? No. Was he a good baseball person? Yes.

The Mets used their second round pick (their first) to pick a left-handed high school pitcher from Ward Melville on Long Island. He was a bit of a signability guy, so it's good to see the Mets using their money aggressively, especially to get the local kid.

Here's a scouting report:

• Steven Matz: The LHP out of Ward Melville High School (East Setauket, NY) has produced "average" velocity consistently ranging from 88-92, but has touched 94 and scouts believe he can get stronger and thus throw faster. His curveball is projected to be above-average due to good spin and arm speed and he's also thrown a change-up on occassion, but with little consistency. Matz will be heading to Coastal Carolina.

An article lacking citation I found also claimed his stats from this year to be: 0.47 ERA, 81 K, 11 H, 15 BB, 44 IP. Apparently his second best pitch is the curveball, but he's begun throwing his changeup and slider more often, as he's more confident in his control.

Matz, Steve LHP Ward Melville HS (via 2008cle)

My amateur scouting wisdom says good aggressive delivery and fairly clean mechanics. Post more information as you find it.

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.

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.