Frank Viola, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Manny, Cory Vaughn, Michael Morse

File this into the brainless category: Don’t look for Frank Viola to become the pitching coach in St. Lucie where most of the Mets young talent is.

C Jesus Flores signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers


.Sports Hochi reports that Daisuke Matsuzaka is deciding on minor league offers from the Indians, Marlins and Mets.

OF Manny Ramirez wants to continue his baseball career. Has 4 HRs, a .559 slugging percentage and .974 OPS for Aguilas in the playoffs. I’m not saying that I recommend Manny to the Mets… I just wrote this as an excuse to put up this avatar.

Ex-Mets C Drew Butera will play for Italy in the WBC.

Rob Castellano continues his prospect countdown (will Rob ever link back to this site?):

#23 - OF Cory Vaughn - Despite a strong skillset and a major league toolbag there are reasons to pause when discussing the 23-year-old outfielder. Most notably, his .236 career average at High-A. Additionally, his strikeout rate continues to reside well above 20%. Vaughn's other rate stats remain strong: The .219 ISO in 2012 is outstanding, as is the 12% walk rate. All in all, Vaughn seemingly possesses all of the tools needed to project a major league career — from a top tier power/speed mix to a strong eye at the dish — except for perhaps the most important one: his hit tool. Without some major improvement in that area, he just doesn't consistently barrel the ball enough to project as a guy who'll ever hit for much average at the highest levels.

        

    Why doesn’t anyone ever write about Vaughn’s swing? It’s simply horrible and anyone that has seen it, knows it. Worse than that, his hitting coach for the past two seasons, Benny Destafano, hasn’t done anything to correct it. Vaughn has hit both for average and power but will never make it big in the majors unless he stops chopping wood and follows through on his swing.

Well, no one expected the Nats to trade anyone to the Mets that would help them, but did they actually have to come up with a way to get more quality pitching? OF Michael Morse was shipped off to Seattle, who sent catcher John Jaso to Oakland. Then, Oakland sends prospect SP A.J. Cole back to Washington where he was before the Gio Gonzalez trade. Morse will become the 10^th outfielder on the team, though one will probably become the DH (was Jesus Montero) now that Jaso is gone.  There are three righties on the staff: Jason Bay, Franklin Guiterrez, and Casper Wells. Wells would be under team control for four years while Guiterrez becomes a free agent in 2014 ($7.312.5mil in 2013). BTW… they could use a young 3Bman.