Meet the Mets
Leading off this morning's Applesauce, the Mets signed 30-year old SS Omar Quintanilla to a minor league contract. I think that's about all I need to say about this move, but in case that's not enough to quench your minor league depth signing thirst, Ted Berg looked further into the ramifications of this signing.
Over at ESPN New York, Adam Rubin provided the contract terms for relievers Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch. Francisco's deal is slightly backloaded ($5.5 million in 2012, $6.5 million in 2013), while Rauch can earn $500,000 in incentives based on game finished.
Seedlings to Stars named lefty Darin Gorski the #3 starter on their 2011 FSL All-Star Team and the post features a scouting report given by Gorski himself. Rising Apple put out a slightly depressing list of notable players that the Mets drafted but didn't sign. And Baseball Instinct released the third part of their top 360 prospects series, in which they take a look at toolsy OF prospect Cesar Puello. In case you're interested, part one featured Juan Urbina and part two covers Jefry Marte and Aderlin Rodriguez.
Anthony DiComo answered some fan questions regarding Josh Thole's starting job, a move of Mike Pelfrey to the pen and a swap of Ike Davis and Lucas Duda in the field, among other topics.
The wall construction at Citi Field continues to roll on through the cold winter weather. Here's the latest shot of the developments in the right center field gap.
Finally, the Mets will host their annual blood drive on Thursday at Citi Field. Donors will receive a voucher for two tickets to a game in April, along with a 15% discount on merchandise at the team store in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.
Around the Majors
The Nationals recently met with superagent Scott Boras and are said to be in the running to overpay sign free agent 1B Prince Fielder. That team would be quite scary with Prince to go along with all of that young talent, assuming they make sure to keep him far away from the Nationals Park Shake Shack (is he still a vegetarian?).
Japanese ace Yu Darvish is in Arlington for what is being termed just a "visit". The Rangers and Darvish have until January 18th to agree to a deal, but you'd have to assume contract talks are moving along if Yu is in town. Meanwhile, 30-year old righty Hisashi Iwakuma apparently favors the Seattle Mariners. Iwakuma, who is now an international free agent, was posted last year but did not come to an agreement with the Oakland A's, who submitted a $19.1 million bid for his services.
The A's re-signed veteran center fielder Coco Crisp to a two year contract worth $14 million. Well, somebody had to play the outfield for the A's, right?
The 2012 Hall of Fame announcement show is scheduled for Monday at 2 PM on the MLB Network. The two-hour show will reveal who will join late Cubs third baseman Ron Santo in Cooperstown. Hopefully one of those players to get a plaque is former Astros' 1B Jeff Bagwell, who some numbskulls writers are still not voting for, despite the fact that there is no tangible evidence that he ever did steroids.
Finally, Dave Cameron took a look at the trade value of Matt Garza at Fangraphs.