Mets "Would Love" to Sign John Lackey

Posted by Matt Pignataro

According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, "The Mets would love to sign John Lackey... But if they don't, they want to add from a group that includes Joel Pineiro, Randy Wolf, Ben Sheets and Jason Marquis, according to two sources with knowledge of their plans."

Rosenthal writes that he believes the Mets think that Ben Sheets has more upside than other pitchers coming back from injury than a Kelvim Escobar, Erik Bedard, Mark Mulder or Brett Myers.

Casey Close, Sheets's agent said Friday that his client is "progressing well from his flexor-tendon surgery in February and should be 100 percent by spring training."

Sheets went 13-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 31 starts with the Brewers in 2008.

First, it was said the Mets would go after Lackey, then they were scared away from him due to history of arm problems, and now they do want to go after him. Amazing...

I like the idea of having Lackey behind Santana in the rotation as the number two guy, but I'm kind of worried about giving him a tons of money, when he has a history of arm troubles. The last thing the Mets need is someone signed to a big time deal to get hurt. Then again, Ben Sheets has had a ton of arm problems as well, but he does fit Omar Minaya's low-cost, high-reward signing.