It’s not the big move you’re probably still hoping for, but the Mets agreed to minor-league contract with four players: Outfielder Bobby Kielty, right-handers Tony Armas Jr. and Matt DeSalvo, and left-hander Valerio de los Santos.

Kielty has not played in the major leagues since 2007, when he pinch hit in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the World Series and homered on the first pitch from Colorado’s Brian Fuentes. It put Boston ahead 4-1, and the Red Sox went on to win 4-3 for their second World Series title in four seasons.

Armas Jr. was 1-0 with a 7.56 ERA in three appearances with the Mets last year and won his only start, July 1 at St. Louis. He was 5-7 with a 2.54 ERA in 17 starts at Triple-A New Orleans.

DeSalvo, 28, had a 31.50 ERA in two relief appearances for Atlanta last season, allowing seven runs and 11 hits in two innings. He was 2-11 with a 4.87 ERA in eight starts and 26 relief appearances at Triple-A Richmond.

De los Santos was 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in two starts for Colorado last year, when he went 4-5 with a 5.63 ERA in eight starts and 15 relief appearances for Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Minor-league second baseman Kyle Suire was suspended 50 games following a positive test under the sport’s minor league drug program.

Suire tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, the commissioner’s office said. His penalty will take effect at the start of this season.

Suire played most recently with Class A Brooklyn of the New York-Penn League, appearing in three games. He batted .297 with nine home runs and 36 RBI last season for Kingsport of the rookie-level Appalachian League.

Jerry Manuel, who helped out City Harvest at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen today, would love to have Manny Ramirez in his lineup.

“It’s rare that you get that type of talent. I mean, boom! Right in the middle of the lineup type of guy, and right-handed for us, that would be a big bonus,” Manuel told the Associated Press. “Would you like to have that? Yeah. Would you like to add something else? Yeah. But hey, we have to deal with what we have, and what we have — we feel like we have enough tools to make it into the playoffs.”

Ramirez is a .314 career hitter with 527 home runs and 1,725 RBI. He led the Dodgers to the NL championship series last season after arriving from Boston in a July 31 trade. He batted .396 with 17 homers, 53 RBI and a whopping .743 slugging percentage in 53 games with Los Angeles.

Teams might be scared off by “Manny being Manny,” but Manuel isn’t.

“I don’t have problems with the clubhouse,” said Manuel, . “If you bring in a guy like that who performs on the field, I think we can handle the rest of that stuff. It’s easy to handle when you have that type of performance. I don’t think that’s an issue.”

So do you think Omar Minaya and the front office need to make the call?

Freddy Garcia is officially in the fold, signing a  a one-year minor league contract.

This is definitely a low-risk, potentially-high-reward signing for the Mets.

Garcia has posted a .605 career winning percentage, the eighth-best among active pitchers with 250 or more innings.  He was 118-77 during his career with the Mariners, White Sox, Phillies, and Tigers.

The 6-4, 260-pounder was 17-9 with a 4.53 ERA in 33 starts for the Chicago White Sox in 2006.

The problem, of course, is that he underwent labrum surgery on his right shoulder on Aug. 29, 2007.  The injury limited him to 16 games in the majors over the two years, 11 with the Phillies in 2007 and five with the Tigers in 2008.

“He’s a big game pitcher who has had great success in the postseason and we feel has a good opportunity to contribute to our success this year,” said Mets General Manager Omar Minaya.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to pitch in New York,” said Garcia, who was 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA in four games with the Tigers after signing last August.  “Nothing would make me happier than to pitch in the same rotation with my friend and fellow countryman, Johan Santana, and help win a championship with the Mets.”

Garcia was 14-8 with a 3.87 ERA in 2005 in helping the White Sox win the World Series.  He went 3-0 in that postseason and hurled 7.0 shutout innings in Game Four to earn the victory and complete the four-game sweep over the Houston Astros.  For his career, Garcia is 6-2 in nine postseason starts.

Certainly a return to that kind of form would be huge for the Mets. But with his uncertain physical status, it seems like the Mets still need another arm.

What’s your take?

Reports indicate the Mets have come to terms with Freddy Garcia on an incentive-laden deal that could net him as much as $9 million. Garcia, of course, was once a middle-of-the rotation anchor, but he has made just 14 starts the last two seasons because of a torn labrum.

I have two questions:
1. This seems like a good risk-reward signing. Do you agree?
2. Does this close the door on Oliver Perez, or is Garcia, like Redding, just insurance?

The Mets today announced that they have avoided arbitration and signed outfielders Ryan Church and Angel Pagan to one year contracts.

Church, 30, agreed to a one-year contract for $2.8 million. He hit .276 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI in his first season as a Met. Concussions limited him to 90 games.

Pagan, who is currently recovering from surgery to repair his torn left labrum, also signed a one-year contract, for $575,000. The 27-year-old outfielder hit .275 with 12 runs scored, seven doubles and 13 RBI in 31 games.

The Mets have now come to terms with four of their six players who were arbitration eligible. Pitchers John Maine and Pedro Feliciano have not yet agreed to terms.

The concussions that limited Church’s playing time and effectiveness in the second half really cost the Mets. Fernando Tatis did much better than anyone could have hoped, but maybe the Mets hold off the Phillies with a healthy Church.

Also, the Mets announced the signing of left-handed pitchers Tom Martin and Casey Fossum and catcher Omir Santos to minor-league  contracts. They invited all three to Spring Training next month.

In addition, the Mets extended non-roster major league camp invitations to outfielder Fernando Martinez, first baseman Michel Abreu, righthanded pitchers Tobi Stoner and Dillon Gee, lefthanded pitcher Michael Antonini, catcher Josh Thole, and shortstop Jose Coronado.

The  Mets today announced that two 40-game plans and four 15-game plans for the 2009 season at Citi Field are on sale now at Mets.com.

40-Game “A”: Tickets to every-other regular-season home game, starting April 15

40-Game “B”: Tickets to every-other regular-season home game, starting April 16

15-Game Friday: Tickets to 10 Friday regular-season home games, plus five additional weekday games

15-Game Saturday: Tickets to 10 Saturday regular-season home games, plus five additional weekday games

15-Game Sunday: Tickets to 10 Sunday regular-season home games, plus five additional weekday games

15-Game weekend: Tickets to three Friday, three Saturday, three Sunday, and six weekday regular-season games

In addition to 40- and 15-game plans, 2009 season tickets are on sale now at Mets.com. The Mets will announce the on-sale date for single game tickets in the weeks ahead.

Also, single-game spring training tickets will go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. Single game tickets will be available at Mets.com or by calling (772) 871-2115.

Former Mets first baseman Rico Brogna has been hired as an assistant football coach at Wesleyan University.

It will be Brogna’s second stint with the Cardinals, where he coached the wide receivers in 2004. Coach Frank Hauser said Brogna will help with the offense, but does not yet have a specific role.

Brogna, a former baseball coach at Post University, most recently served as a high school football coach and a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Brogna was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the first round of the 1988 draft. He also played for the Mets and Philadelphia, where he had three straight 20-homer seasons and two consecutive years of 100 RBI.

Brogna also had short stints in Boston and Atlanta before retiring in 2000.

NEW YORK — Change you can believe in: A minor league team is swapping its name in tribute to Barack Obama.

The Brooklyn Cyclones will change their name to the “Baracklyn Cyclones” for June 23 and give away Barack Obama bobbleheads to the first 2,500 fans in honor of the new president.

Special red-white-and-blue jerseys will be worn by players and auctioned during the game, with proceeds going to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. The team, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, will have an “Economic Stimulus Package” from Jan. 20 — Inauguration Day — until Jan. 23, selling tickets at $5-$10, matching the levels of its inaugural season in 2001. Regular prices are $8-15.

In addition, the first 1,000 fans get free Band-Aids as part of “Universal Health Care,” all fans named Barack get in for free, fans named McCain or Palin get free bleacher seats and any plumber named Joe gets two free tickets.

“One for himself, and one to ’spread the wealth’ with a friend,” the Cyclones said,

Fans will receive American flags when they leave, what the Cyclones called “a clear-cut exit strategy.” The Cyclones are reserving four seats behind the plate for the first family, in case it can attend.

“Steve Cohen, our GM there, came up with it, and Dave Howard worked with him on it,” Mets chief operating office Jeff Wilpon said today, referring to the Mets’ executive vice president for business operations. “They ran it by me. I said if you think this is going to be good for ticket sales and you like it, let’s go. It created a little bit of excitement.”

The Mets aren’t worried of running out of the bobbleheads.

“We could make it Baracklyn week,” Wilpon said. “We’ll keep ordering bobbleheads if the people if the people come coming.”

Cohen said he was struck by the similarity between “Barack” and “Brooklyn.”

“The president-elect’s message is one of change,” Cohen said. “In an effort to pay homage to that idea, were changing our prices, our policies, and the name of our team — for one day, at least.”

I had a discussion through e-mail about this with a reader last week and we had a disagreement. It becomes a very real debate now that Derek Lowe has reportedly agreed to a four-year, $60-million deal with the Braves.

My contention was that if the Mets didn’t land Lowe, they then were hamstrung in talks with Scott Boras (yet again) because the uberagent can drive up the price on Oliver Perez just like he did on Lowe. So after all this time negotiating, the Mets may now find themselves in the same position, guarding against entering a competition without an opponent. But, as always, maybe their is an opponent? Boras always seems to find one.

The reader, Jason, argued that Perez and Lowe were of equal value. Some even feel Perez has greater value. You all know why — he’s younger, lefty, has a greater ceiling, etc.

Jason believed the Mets could hold at their price on Lowe, then sign Perez if they didn’t get him. But my contention was that Boras wouldn’t let them off so easily. Now that Lowe, at 36, received $60 million, won’t Boras try to squeeze just as much money out for Perez, who is just 27 and lefty?

I don’t think we’ll know immediately. What do you think will happen? Are they now desperate for Perez?

Here’s the Mets rotation with Perez:

Santana, LHP, 16-7, 2.53, 206 K, 1.15 WHIP
Pelfrey, RHP, 13-11, 3.72, 110 K, 1.36 WHIP
Maine, RHP, 10-8, 4.18 ERA, 122 K, 1.35 WHIP
Perez, LHP, 10-7, 4.22 ERA, 180 K, 1.40 WHIP
Redding, RHP, 10-11, 4.95 ERA, 120 K, 1.43 WHIP

Good, but do you think it can win them a World Series? How about a division title?

MLB Network’s new show (yes, I know they are all new) “Hot Stove” will host an interview with Omar Minaya tonight at 7 p.m. The GM will discuss an the club’s wheeling and dealing this offseason with MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds.

If you haven’t checked out MLB Network yet, you probably aren’t even sure whether or not you have it. You can log on to MLBnetwork.com to check the listings.

Since this is the first post of the new year, Happy New Year to everyone!