A private man, Hernandez has clearly gotten comfortable with the camera and agreed to be miked up for an SNY session. But the brief piece revealed his hypersensitive sense of awareness.

When modeling the position, he talked about multiple things he was able to note while coming off the base and with a man on third. Hernandez’ uncanny ability to rely on peripheral vision, while making athletic moves was what seperated him from all others who have played the position.

This attention to detail of what was occurring during games often shocked teamates. It’s often hard to explain and I really don’t think that Hernandez, an extremely modest man, understands that he.

We are all lucky though as he it to Mets’ telecasts.

If Catalanotto is signed and makes the club along with Fernando Tatis, it’s unlikely that either Chris Carter or Nick Evans makes the club. The Mets will probably keep 12 pitchers and two catchers. Alex Cora, Luis Castillo, Jose Reyes, Tatis, Daniel Murphy and David Wright will be the infielders. Catalanotto, Jason Bay, Jeff Francouer, Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews would be the outfielders.

Carter and Evans will get significant times at bat in prime games this spring as the club needs to see what they’ve got. It will be interesting to see what the Mets feel is their potential upsides.

One thing for certain, the Mets have addressed one of their goals in improving their AAA Buffalo roster. The bulk of the pitching staff is on the 40-man roster and will be in major league camp. Non-roster invitees that were signed to minor league contracts, R.A. Dickey and Josh Fogg will be part of the rotation at Buffalo. Jon Niese and Tobi Stoner probably will, too.

In all the Mets signed six free agent pitchers that they hope will begin the season in AAA. The benefit in this is that it allows them to keep some of their young pitching prospects at AA Bighamtom such as Brad Holt and Jenry Mejia to start the season. Ike Davis can even start the season at AA, but he’ll probably be promoted to AAA by mid season.

These are good things for individual player development in it that allows good players to have more success before being promoted. No need to rush anyone. No need to seek a “fast-track option.”

The Mets hesitancy to sign veteran free agent starting pitchers is evidence that they are banking on enhancing player development while improving the value of their personel. If for instance, Tobi Stoner and Jon Niese are effective in AAA it allows them to move a Mike Pelfrey or John Maine to improve the ball club at some point during the season.

It could be that after the season begins, the Mets will be in a far better situation to improve the club.

When thought of in terms of the roster, it makes sense. He can play both infield and outfield corner positions. In an emergency, he can play second base (7 games in 2009) and even shortstop (2 games). Importantly, he knows what the Mets’ situation is. The club wants and needs Daniel Murphy to succeed at first base.

Murphy represents the only young everyday player that they are currently trying to develop at the major league level. He seems to be entering the season a stronger and better athlete. Murphy’s 38 doubles last season display significant potential for power and run production.

Any negatives impressions from last season hold less weight as Murphy never had a consistent place in the batting order. Intrestingly, he proved to be a pretty good RBI guy by hitting .345 with runners in scoring position with 2 out. Jerry Manuel’s recent comparison of Murphy to Mark DeRosa are thoughtful, and I think that he did that to motivate him. I doubt that Murphy wants to be considered as a utility player. I see him as a more durable Dave Magadan and with more power.

UPDATE: Jayson Stark thinks a 3rd team could be involved to get rid of Adam LaRoche

UPDATE: Fox says that neither Clay Buchholz or Daniel Bard is in the deal. Martinez has a relatively low salary, so Cleveland really doesn’t need to move him. Why the Indians would do it without getting a pitching stud back is beyond me.

UPDATE: A report has the Mets getting Adam LaRoche as part of the Martinez deal. This makes no sense. I would just as soon let Daniel Murphy play everyday at 1st and letting him develop until Delgado gets back. There’d better be more as this will be a major ho-hum for fans.

UPDATE: Clearly I have a “dope” moment when I inferred the deal is done in my headline…it’s obviously not

2:33: Mets win 7-0. Tim Redding finished up. Nice DP started again by Daniel Murphy. Like Gary said at the end, this can be the best day of the season if we can get tonight’s game.

2:22: To the 9th. We lead 7-0. They just showed Rockies coach Don Baylor. My own memory of Baylor come from the 1986 World Series when he almost hit me with a foul ball in the 3rd base dugout. I tripped and smashed face first into one of the polls. After I put ice on Gary Carter’s knee after the game, I held an ice bag over the right side of my face. A real big league dork moment.

2:02: Santana’s done, leaving with a 6-0 lead after 7. Bobby Parnell will relieve. That was my first look behind the scenes at Citi Field. Nice shot by SNY getting Santana walking up the runway. A Cora single and David Wright double makes it 7-0.

1:54: For those of you whom don’t already. You need to have Tim Dierkes’ MLB Trade Rumors minimized today. No other site covers it better.

1:50: Cory Sullivan’s had a nice game. Two hits – one a triple, an RBI. Three nice plays in leftfield. He can play CF, too, so their might be something to the talk that the Mets could move Jeremy Reed to the Rockies. They don’t need them both.

1:46: They’re talking about Bob Apodaca, the former Met and Rockies pitching coach. I had the proviledge of working with “Dac” in the 1983 season in Jackson AA Texas League. Great pitching coach-better person.

1:35: Gary and Ron spoke about Omar Minaya’s comments today and were disappointed that Minaya didn’t really “close the door” on the issue. And I am glad that Darling was very Mets get to 6-0 after an Angel Pagan triple.

1:30: Mets lead 5-0 after 5.

1:28: Santana just dove after a ball that got by first base and Ronnie said that when Santana is in the game “he seems to be the toughest guy on the field.” That’s high praise.

1:21: SI’s Jon Heyman reports that the Marlins are close to getting Heath Bell.

1:10: Cory Sullivan single-handedly kept the Rocks from scoring with two really good plays in left.

1:07: They’re saying how well Billy Wagner is doing well. What a great set-up guy Wagner would be for K-Rod.

1:04: Geez, I didn’t know Matt Cerrone was doing TV spots, too on SNY. What a major media star he’s becoming. Still, what an amazing rise in success from a man with a vision.

12:58: Santana’s 4th strikeout. He must be really filthy today as the Rocks are swinging and missing alot….and missing the ball by a mile.

12:53: Plug here for Gary, Ron and Keith’s web site

12:48: 5-0. Notice I had trouble decided how to spell drivel.

12:44: Ronnie talked about the squeeze play and that the hitter has to answer back. I however remembering that the Cubs during the 80′s required no such answer. They have just better get it down or the thing blew up. Plus, some clubs knew that Keith Hernandez was not only good an snuffing it out defensively, but he was good at stealing the sign from the manager in the dugout.

12:40: Cool. Five straight basehits. 4-0. Great to see Cory Sullivan and Angel Berroa get hits.

12:37: Four straight hits. Good guys lead 2-0. Ron’s complementing the offensive approach.

12:32: After running out to get a sandwich…..Murphy just doubled to lead off the 2nd…..Gary talked about the astonishing drop-off in stikeouts by Santana…..Francouer first pitch single to right…..Ron said its that there is a slight drop-off in velocity and that he’s missing inside. I wonder if its that Santana is trying to get more contact from hitters and getting deeper into the ball game.

Lets hope Jonathan Niese pitches well enough to stay in the rotation and that the remarkable Ken Takahashi continues to make his strong contribution to the bullpen, as it will be good to have another lefty in the pen.

The line-up and depth are beginning to be a strength as players whom come off the bench are seen as regulars by the other club. Usually two of the quartet of Daniel Murphy, Fernando Tatis, Gary Sheffield and Ryan begin the game on the bench. As they are considered to be 3 thru 6 hitters in an everyday lineup and not just pinch hitters opposing managers have less favorable matchups against their bullpen.

I look forward to more games like today’s where the club uses needs to use two pitchers, instead of its customary 3 or 4 out of the pen on games they win.

Brian Stokes has only allowed one unearned run in 11 outings this season. Along with Takahashi, the duo allows the struggling Sean Green and, when he returns, Oliver Perez to get it together.

Matt Cerrone speculated today that the club could opt to move Darren O’Day out. I agree that this could be a smart play. The two games this weekend at Citi Field had to change quite a bit.

The new ballpark is big and likely to be bigger than anyone suspected. The gaps are much deeper than anticipated and ball that get to the wall may become triples more often than anyone would have liked. The high walls in the outfield seem to deaded the ball and there’s a difficult well to play in RF. You saw an accomplished major league outfielder in Ryan Church have trouble with it. Marlon Anderson showed that he won’t be very good at home in CF. It makes Jeremy Reed much more valuable that expected. Sheffield and Daniel Murphy could prove to be liablilities in the OF when the Mets play at home.

If Sheffield hits, he’ll stay. And if he does, he might replaced after his 3rd time at-bat by Church or Reed. Hopefully Murphy will be able to hold his own in the OF. If not, the Mets could find themselves with a team that does not match their own home stadium.

The Mets have a fly ball pitching staff and it will be a disaster if they find out they don’t have a fly ball outfield.

Somewhere Doc Gooden’s smiling.

UPDATE: More from Baseball Crank , Matt Cerrone , Greg Prince

There’s some hidden good news in that its clear that the Mets will start the season with more depth in AAA than previous years. Its been a problem in previous seasons. Only the surprise emergences of Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Brian Stokes last season provided spark. This year’s AAA roster will have players who are major league ready and had good springs.

Manuel still has some tough choices. First in Nick Evans. He’s ceratainly earned a spot. But do they keep him for the number of at bats thats limited by Fernando Tatis? The smart play might be to option Evans and keep Bobby Kielty who’s much better suited for a bench role, and also has had a very good spring. Kielty is a switch hitter to. I predict that Evans will go north – a bit as a reward – until Livan Hernandez is needed to start a game. Unless a middle infielder or catcher is injured, Evans will be the first player recalled.

The Mets will probably have a short leash on both Tatis and Ryan Church. If either gets off to a slow start, they won’t hesitate to go to Kielty and or Evans.

Brian Stokes and Bobby Parnell will likely round out the bullpen and leave just one lefty-Pedro Felicaino. With JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez getting the last two innings, its understandable why the Mets feel they can get by with just one. Parnell did not allow a hit to a left-handed batter this spring. Stokes good finish to 2008 was backed up this spring. He can start or relieve.

Still, with all the talk of additions the Mets did not make, this club goes north with more depth – both of the major league roster and at AAA – than at any time of the Omar Minaya regime.