Mets Morning News: Parnell To Close, Mejia Being Investigated

Read into it what you will, but Bobby Parnell sounds like he's going to be closing games for the Mets in 2013. Talking about that this early after Frank Francisco was shut down doesn't sound all that good, and just reinforces why signing relievers to multi-year deals is usually a poor choice.

There was more talk about the Mets not wishing Johan Santana to pitch in the World Baseball Classic this spring, and further down the page there are some interesting notes about Jenrry Mejia. Apparently Mejia is being investigated about his identity and age, and has not yet reported to spring training because of it.

Yesterday at AA

Fred Wilpon claims that financial matters with the Mets are improving, although we rightly filed that one in the "I'll believe it when I see it" category. Still, the talks with Michael Bourn would suggest that we might not be in as bad a situation as we were.

Sandy Alderson had some comments about spring training, and the entire interview can be read here.

The seventh installment of Amazin' Avenue Audio is out.

Steve recapped his international free agent profiles, and looked ahead to next year.

Around Baseball

60 minutes got a bit more interesting yesterday, as former Met R.A. Dickey was working with Leslie Stahl on a segment about his knuckleball.

Rob Neyer looked at the Phillies, trying to determine if a healthy Roy Halladay makes them contenders. In this division, I'd have to vote no.

Eno took a closer look at Brandon Belt's 2012. As he's capable of standing beyond the infield when the opposition is at bat, Mets fans probably should as well.

John Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny will be getting contract extensions from the Cardinals. #BlameBeltran

The details about the massive contract extension signed by Felix Hernandez are out, and they can be found here. That's a lot of money to be guaranteeing anyone, especially a pitcher.