Is the Hot Stove Cooling Off for the New York Mets?

Today's "Manny watch" article says he isn't coming to New York, while Klapisch cites people close to Pedro that there may be somewhat less to worry about his toe than we all think.

New York Post: Done tinkering?
Michael Morrissey cites a "major-league official" that obtaining Manny Ramirez is not a focus for the Mets. According to Morrissey:

There was nothing substantive about recent rumblings of a deal between the Mets and Ramirez, and nothing has changed. They were only looking to strike a deal with Boston if something made financial and roster sense, but the Mets were never determined to acquire him, the official claimed.

The Mets believe they already have a competitive team heading into spring training and have no problem seeing how the current roster shakes out. In other words, the front office may be done tinkering.

Well, this would seem to make sense, although I would be very surprised if the Manny to the Mets rumors completely went away. Morrissey informs us that there are only a couple of things that might still go down:

There may yet be a deal for Tampa Bay reliever Danys Baez or infielder Julio Lugo, and the Mets want to peddle the disappointing Kaz Matsui on some less suspecting club. They'll listen for any takers for Kris Benson and/or Steve Trachsel as well.

I still think the Mets might be better off going into the season with all of the different options they currently have at 2B and see if one of them shakes out. You would think that Lugo would be heading to the Red Sox, since the Ramirez - Tejada deal looks increasingly unlikely. As previously stated, giving up Heilman for a one-year rental of Baez -- another pitcher that does much worse against lefties -- would not be a good move. Also, I'd be careful of moving a starter until I see what happens with Pedro's toe.

Bergen Record: Is Pedro's toe just an excuse?
Bob Klapisch says there might be less to worry about concerning Pedro's painful toe than we all think:

People close to Martinez are whispering that the injury, while not entirely cured, is nothing severe. Yet, by treating it as such, Pedro and the Mets will have the perfect "out" from the World Baseball Classic in March.

Friends say Pedro isn't crazy about pitching in the tournament, but has no way of taking himself off the roster without incurring the wrath of the entire Dominican Republic. Martinez saw how heavily Alex Rodriguez was being leveraged by Dominican officials, and realized he couldn't win that fight, either.

The exemption, of course, is an injury. By claiming he's not game-ready, the Mets will be able to play the role of the heavy and keep Martinez off the Dominican roster, the same way the Yankees blocked Jorge Posada, Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina.

...The Mets will insist the idea of keeping Pedro in Port St. Lucie in March is theirs. This will allow Martinez to cast himself as the victim of overcautious ownership.

It's the perfect strategy all around. Martinez, whose fastball had shrunk to 86 mph in September, has nothing to gain from throwing full-bore this early in the season. And the Mets obviously don't want to risk further injury to their star pitcher.

I haven't really had a strong feeling one way or the other about the World Baseball Classic, but I do understand that there are countries, including the Dominican Republic, that are going to put a lot of pressure on their stars to play for the national team, no matter what. It's a shame if all this worry about Pedro's toe is just a smokescreen. Between this and the political games with Cuba, I'm not sure this is worth it.

Also somewhat personally disturbing in Klap's column is this item:

NEWS ITEM: Where is Mike Piazza?

That's the question a lot of GMs are asking this week. The assumption was he would have signed somewhere by now, but the Met catcher turned free agent is still looking for a job with spring training just six weeks away.

Piazza's best hope is with the Orioles, who are looking to trade Javy Lopez or else move him to first base. That would create an opening at the DH spot. The A's also are considering Piazza, but their first choice at DH is still the rehabbing Frank Thomas.

I thought the hardest thing would be to see Piazza in a different uniform, but I'm starting to feel a little sad at the thought of Mike out there, looking for a team, and no one is really interested.