The Mets made it official today, exercising Carlos Delgado’s $12 million option for next year.

Be honest: Who thought last June that Delgado would be back. His bat seemed dead and he looked older than his 36 years. But then he hit .308 with 27 homers and 80 RBI in 84 games from June 27 on. That left him with a final average of .271 with 38 homers and 115 RBI.

“Carlos is a key part of our plans for 2009, and we wanted to let him know as quickly as allowed that we wanted him back,” GM Omar Minaya said in a statement. “Yesterday — the day following the conclusion of the World Series — was the first day that we could pick up the option per the contract. It was our full intent to promptly close our deal with Carlos, and that’s what we did.”

So what do you think? Are you glad to have Delgado back? Does he have another big season in him?

Dan Murphy suffered his forearm injury at last Saturday’s AFL Rising Stars game when he was cleated while covering second base. It opened up a gash on his arm, which was stitched up at the hospital.

Murphy has missed all of the Saguaros games since, but the Mets told me today he is fine. He is expected to return to action at some point this weekend.

Murphy, who is batting .400, sat during the Saguaros’ game this afternoon.

Also, Oliver Perez and Damion Easley filed for free agency today, which was the first day players were allowed to do so.

Fernando Tatis was the NL Comeback Player of the Year this season. Now the Mets have rewarded the 33-year-old reclamation project with a new contract.

The club signed Tatis today to one-year, $1.17-million deal, not including incentives.

The outfielder batted .297 with 11 home runs, filling in admirably for Moises Alou and Ryan Church.

Here’s the full release, which includes thoughts from Tatis and Omar Minaya.

METS SIGN FERNANDO TATIS TO A ONE-YEAR CONTRACT
FLUSHING, N.Y., October 30, 2008 – Fernando Tatis, who was named the National League Comeback Player-of-the-Year this season, today signed a one-year contract with the New York Mets. Terms were not disclosed.

Tatis, 33, who hit .297 with 16 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs and 47 RBI for the Mets separated his right shoulder diving for a double by Nationals’ pitcher Odalis Perez in the fifth inning on September 16th at Washington. Fernando underwent an MRI the next day and the test revealed a Grade 3 shoulder separation.

“I feel fine now,” said Tatis, whose contract was selected from New Orleans (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League on May 13th. “I didn’t need surgery and I will be ready to go in the spring.”

For the Mets, Tatis made 35 starts in rightfield, 28 in leftfield, two at third base and one at first base.

“Fernando got so many key hits for us last year,” said Mets’ General Manager Omar Minaya. “Not having him the last few weeks of the season certainly hurt. His versatility certainly makes us a better team.”

In 2008, Fernando hit .392 (29-74) with men in scoring position. He also compiled a .311 mark (33-106) against lefthanded pitching.

Tatis’s Sporting News Comeback Player-of-the-Year Award was voted on by 314 current major league players, 18 managers and 41 General Managers and Assistant General Managers.

So Philadelphia finally has its first pro sports championship in 25 years, as the Phillies wrapped up a surprisingly easy 4-games-to-1 victory over the Rays in tonight’s bizarre three-inning affair at Citizens Bank Park.

All offseason, people will ask how they did it. Some teams — yours possibly included — may even try to replicate it. Why? Because that’s what pro sports has become, a multi-millionaire society of copycats. The Giants win the Super Bowl? Get pass rushers. The Diamondbacks win the World Series? Find pocket aces. The Bulls win the NBA title? Get Michael Jordan.

As you can see, it isn’t always easy. You just can’t wish a Jordan onto the roster.

If you’re a Met fan, watching the Phillies win probably made you sick. But it should also make you hopeful. I mean, wasn’t it six or seven weeks ago when the Mets finished their season series 11-7 vs. Philly, a team that couldn’t harm a Johan Santana changeup if their hitters held a blow torch?

There are reasons a chorus of Met detractors will sing from now until next October as to why the Phillies were better. Most will start with names like Howard and Utley, Rollins and Hamels, and say they are better than the Met core. That refrain has been sung already. Get ready to hear it 8,342 more times.

But when you strip away the names and the faces, it was ultimately only one player who separated the NL East rivals: Bradley Thomas Lidge.

The Phillies acquired Lidge for an uninspiring package highlighted by Michael Bourn with the hope their reclamation project would regain his confidence and become the NL’s version of Mariano Rivera. They did this knowing their vicious fan base would turn against him if he blew a save, but this risk was one they had to take. They made the decision with guts, yes, but also out of necessity.

What happened? The Lidge that lost his job in Houston became great again. Better than great actually. He became perfect. Throw out the All-Star Game and the right-hander didn’t blow a save all year.

You could argue the Mets bullpen would’ve missed the Ryan Madsons and J.C. Romeros even if it had Lidge rather than the Wagner/Heilman/Ayala mess, but the fact of the matter is Lidge lifted the Philly ‘pen. They always had him as a safety net, a safety net the Mets never had, especially after Wagner went down.

Joe Smith told me in September it took the bullpen weeks to realize Billy Wagner was gone. Smith said it made all the relievers (even the experienced ones, he noted) rethink how they felt about themselves, and what their roles were in a Wagnerless era.

Without Wagner in ‘09, the Mets need to find their Lidge, or something like him. It may require some risk, but it will certainly require oodles of luck. (Case in point: Lidge’s seasons in 2004 and 2005 were far superior to 2008. Check the stats. His WHIP, strikeout rate and walk rate were all far worse this year.)

The Phillies look smart now as champions, but Lidge was once far from a given. Now he’s the difference. The Mets need their Lidge if they can find him. Good luck with that.

As you may have heard yesterday, Dan Murphy injured his forearm in Saturday’s Rising Stars game and left after just one at-bat. He has yet to play since then, but chimed in on MLB.com last night with a couple quick thoughts about the injury and his development. Here’s a peak at what Murphy, who is batting .400, had to say:

“As of right now I am currently not in the lineup due a forearm injury that took place in the annual Rising Stars game. Hopefully I should be ready for action by the end of this week but as of now I am daily consulting with our trainer Joe Golia who has taken care of me since the injury. But I am looking forward to being back in the lineup and further hone my skills at second base and in the batters box.”

At one time Eddie Kunz looked like a bullpen arm the Mets needed, but you had to wonder after a so-so debut in the majors and a poor September in the minors. Wonder more now. Kunz has continued to look shaky in Arizona. He was charged with a blown save in the Rising Stars Showcase on Saturday, eight days after he was tagged for eight earned runs while pitching 1/3 of an inning for the Saguaros.

So far, Kunz has posted a 12.79 ERA in Peoria, but the mark was clearly inflated by that one disasterous outing. Forget about it. What should absolutely alarm Met fans is his inability to dominate whatsoever in the AFL for the second year in a row.

This fall, Kunz has pitched 7.0 innings (if you count the Rising Stars Showcase) in eight outings. In just two of those appearances did he survive the inning unscathed. In fact, he allowed two baserunners or more in five of the other six outings. Not good.

The Mets clearly felt Kunz was more than just a situational righty, but he hasn’t looked capable of reaching Jerry Manuel’s “crossover guy” status. Lefties have batted .500 against Kunz in the AFL (6 for 12 with two walks), after batting .500 against him (4 for 8) in the bigs.

Granted, this is a small sample size, but you have to be worried the criticisms thrown the Mets’ way when they drafted Kunz in 2007 may prove to be true. The knock on him is that he projected to be more middle reliever than closer. Check out this draft report from 2007.

The Post has the Mets ready to chase Derek Lowe for the rotation and Brian Fuentes to close. Lowe is 35, but there will be stiff competition coming off a 14-win season with the Dodgers. Fuentes is 33, and here are the lefty’s save numbers the last four years with the Rockies: 31 in 34 chances (2005); 30 in 36 chances (2006), 20 in 27 chances (2007) and 30 in 34 chances (2008). So how about it? Are these the chips you want to add to the staff?

The Mets just announced all but one member of their 2009 coaching staff. Not only will Dan Warthen and Howard Johnson return (as was reported yesterday), but so will Sandy Alomar and Sandy Alomar, Jr. They have yet to name a first base coach.

The two new coaches are Randy Niemann, who will make his third stint as the bullpen coach, and Razor Shines, who will take over at third base. Ken Oberkfell, Luis Aguayo and Guy Conti will not be back. Question: Does the absence of Conti signal the end of Pedro Martinez’s days in Flushing?

Anyway, for more detail on the new hires, here’s the complete release from the Mets:

NEW YORK METS ANNOUNCE 2009 COACHING STAFF

FLUSHING, N.Y., October 23, 2008 – New York Mets Manager Jerry Manuel today announced that Howard Johnson, Dan Warthen, Sandy Alomar, Sr., and Sandy Alomar, Jr. will return to the Mets coaching staff in 2009 and will be joined by Randy Niemann and Razor Shines.

Niemann, who was the Mets Minor League Rehabilitation Coordinator for the last two seasons, will serve in his third stint as the team’s bullpen coach. Shines, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies’ Clearwater affiliate in the Florida State League to a 64-76 mark last year, will become the Mets third base coach.

Guy Conti, the club’s bullpen coach for the past four years, third base coach Luis Aguayo and first base coach Ken Oberkfell will be reassigned within the organization. The first base coaching position is yet to be filled.

Johnson will enter his third season as the club’s hitting coach, Warthen returns for his first full season as the pitching coach, Alomar, Sr. is back for his 49^th season in professional baseball, fifth year on New York’s staff and his third year as the bench coach while Alomar, Jr. is back for his second season as the Mets catching instructor.

 Niemann will begin his 22^nd year in the Mets organization. He served as New York’s bullpen coach on two separate occasions, from 2000-2002 and from 1997-June 6, 1999. Niemann has served as the pitching coach for various Mets minor league teams, including Norfolk (AAA) of the International League, Binghamton (AA) of the Eastern League, St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League and Kingsport® of Appalachian League. Niemann was a member of the 1986 World Series championship team, going 2-3 with a 3.79 ERA in 31 games.

Prior to 2008, Shines spent the previous eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox organization. He was Chicago’s third base coach in 2007. Razor managed Charlotte (AAA) of the International League to a 79-62 record in 2006. In 2006-2007, he also served as a member of the All-Star Futures Game World Team coaching staff. Razor managed Birmingham (AA) of the Southern League to consecutive postseason appearances in 2004 and 2005. Shines managed Winston-Salem (A) of the Carolina League in 2002 and 2003, Kannapolis (A) of the South Atlantic League in 2001 and Charleston (A) of the South Atlantic League in 1995. He appeared in 68 games with the Montreal Expos from 1983-1987, batting .185 with five RBI.

Fernando Tatis made a nice contribution to the cause before his season-ending shoulder injury in September, and his fellow players noticed. Tatis was just named as the NL’s top comeback player in a vote by his peers that was done in September. This is one of the 2008 Players Choice Awards, and it was announced by the Major League Players Trust and Yahoo! Sports.

Cliff Lee from the Indians won the AL award. Tatis, who was out of baseball in 2004 and ‘05, hit .297 with 11 homers and 47 RBI in 92 games. He hit 21 homers for Triple-A New Orleans in 2007.

Here’s a gallery of photos taken by WCBS-880. Check out the Shea scoreboard, which has seen better days. It’s not so luminous now…

MLB.com is reporting that Dan Warthen and Howard Johnson will return to Jerry Manuel’s staff next season. Here’s the story.

Willie Randolph was reportedly interviewed by the Brewers today, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The J-S says Randolph is the second man interviewed. The Brewers also interviewed former A’s manager Ken Macha.

This would be the second time Randolph was a managerial candidate in Milwaukee. The Brew crew also interviewed him in 2000, although you may remember Randolph wondering whether he or not he was a serious candidate for the post.

Amazin’ Avenue posted projections for the Mets hitters and pitchers that are straight from the pages of the new Bill James Handbook.

Here’s the link to the hitters’ projections.

Here’s the link to the pitchers’ projections.

At least two positives and two negatives stand out to me:

Positives — The projections for Nick Evans and Dan Murphy, who James projects to post OPSs of over .800. If they hit that well, the Met offense will be much more productive. Especially if Murphy’s at second base.
Negatives — Projections for Jose Reyes (.798 OPS, a decent amount lower than 2006 and 2008) and John Maine, at least in regard to his IP (just 145). Maine threw 151.2 in 2006 in the majors and minors and 191 in 2007 before falling off to 140 this year because of the bone spur. … To James’ credit, he predicted Maine to finish 2008 at 12-11 with a 4.05 ERA, numbers Met fans considered blasphemy after Maine’s breakthough year in ‘07. Turned out James was right, although you could argue Maine performed much better than the projection until his shoulder started barking.

For those interested, Jeff Wilpon is scheduled to appear on WFAN at 6:05 with Mike Francesa and Chris Carlin. It will be interesting to hear his take on the Phillies making the World Series.

UPDATE, 6:28 p.m.: I caught the end of the interview. Here are a few of Wilpon’s thoughts —

On whether or not Omar Minaya will make the decisions in the offseason: “He’s got the authority over our baseball operations.”

On what the fans should expect this offseason: “I think we’re going to be active in trying to remake our roster. I think I said it at the time, I want it to be some addition by subtraction, whether that happens more by free agency or through some trades.”

Wilpon apologized to the fans for what has happened, then added: “Clearly, we want to field a championship team and want to make the changes to get that done.”“We will leave no stone unturned to get us back where we need to.”

The Mets have just re-upped with WFAN, signing a multiyear extension. Here’s the press release the team sent out:

America’s Sports Talk Radio Leader to Broadcast Mets Under Long-term Agreement

FLUSHING, N.Y., October 20, 2008 – The New York Mets and Sports Radio 66 WFAN, the most listened to sports station in America, today announced an extension of their broadcast partnership for live play-by-play coverage of Mets preseason, regular season, and postseason games. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Additionally, under the new agreement, WFAN will produce exclusive Mets programming with players and coaches, daily highlights packages, and pre-game and post-game reports both on-air on WFAN-AM 660 and on the station’s online audio stream at www.wfan.com. For the first time, all of the station’s Mets content, including game broadcasts, will be available on FM radio at 92.3 HD3.

The extension is slated to begin February 2009 with live coverage of the team’s training camp from Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“For the past 22 seasons, Mets fans in the New York tri-state area and well beyond have enjoyed the best local radio broadcasts in baseball on the most powerful sports radio station in the nation,” said Dave Howard, Executive Vice President, New York Mets. “We look forward to working with WFAN promotionally to enhance our connection with our fans, both old and new, and help WFAN maximize its partnership with the Mets.”

“WFAN is proud to continue our longstanding tradition of broadcasting New York Mets baseball,” said Mark Chernoff, Operations Manager, WFAN. “This was a banner year for the team as Mets excitement continued from Opening Day through the final day of the season. We look forward to carrying the Mets from their new home at Citi Field as well as on the road in 2009 and beyond.”

Mets broadcasts have been a staple of WFAN’s marquee programming since the station’s inception in 1987.