Assessing Mets Free Agent Rumors

Over the past few days we’ve been inundated with Mets free agent rumors:

“The Mets are interested in Rafael Furcal.”

“They are poking around Corey Hart.”

“The Mets have contacted Scott Boras about Shin-Soo Choo.”

I do not doubt that these statements are true (although I have no idea why they would have any interest in Furcal). But we should not get overheated about any report, be it good or bad.

That’s because it looks like the Mets will be kicking the tires on virtually everybody. Marc Carig of Newsday tweeted a quote from a Mets source who said, “Other than [Robinson] Cano, I just don’t see anybody who you could say ‘OK, we’re definitely not going to be in play there.'”

Which means there will be reports that the Mets have made overtures to everyone from David Aardsma (God help us) to Barry Zito. Most of these leaks will likely come from player agents who are anxious to let the rest of baseball know how much interest there is in their clients.

But we should not be fooled. While the Mets will certainly reach deals with a few guys, they will not be signing any high-profile free agents, regardless of how much an agent pushes. Knowing this will help us all keep our sanity as the off-season progresses and these rumors increase.