Herb G: Your Daily Dose of Drew

A reporter broached the question to Sandy Alderson on Wednesday, whether the Braves signing of Ervin Santana had any impact on the Mets pursuit of Stephen Drew, who, like Santana, had turned down a $14.1 million qualifying offer and thus required the forfeiture of a draft pick. Alderson replied, “I’m not interpreting it in terms of ‘our situation.’ ” He went on to say, “I don’t know that we have a situation here.”

He was obviously alluding to the fact that, with Kris Medlen’s apparent season ending injury and the uncertainty surrounding Brandon Beachy, the Braves found themselves in ‘a situation,’ but he did not equate that to the fact that Ruben Tejada’s recent shaky play in the field and anemic performance at the plate thus far in spring training, might constitute ‘a situation’. Both Alderson and Terry Collins have maintained that ‘as of now, Tejada is our opening day shortstop.’ And recently the Mets’ GM stated that Tejada is not under a microscope. “We continue to look at how he’s doing, but it won’t be a judgment based on one game or two games or three games,” Alderson said. “We’ve got a lot of spring training left. In the meantime, we’ll continue to look at our other options.”

One of those options is, of course, the aforementioned Drew. Alderson reiterated what many have been thinking regarding Drew, stating that he could see Drew holding out beyond Opening Day, to ensure he cannot be given a qualifying offer next offseason as a free agent. But he does not believe Drew would hold out past this June’s draft, as his agent, Scott Boras, has threatened, in order to wriggle free of the 2014 draft pick a team would have to forfeit if it signed him now. It would certainly seem financially disadvantageous for Drew to wait until June to sign, missing out on at least 1/3 of a year’s salary.

Regarding another of those options, that of Mets highly touted prospect, Wilmer Flores playing shortstop, Alderson was dismissive of the flub Flores made on a potential double play grounder in the first inning of Tuesday’s game. “I thought he was fine,” Alderson said about Flores’ first start at the position since 2011. “I’m not smart enough based on the first-inning bobble to know that he can’t play shortstop.” Anthony DiComo of MLB.com wasn’t as generous in his assessment of Flores at short. He wrote “For now, consider this an experiment and nothing more. By giving Flores significant innings at shortstop, the Mets are overturning every stone on their 40-man roster. Multiple front-office members — not to mention an even larger contingent of scouts — do not seriously believe that Flores is athletic enough to handle one of the game’s most difficult defensive positions. But Collins in particular is curious about Flores given the work he did this winter during two stints at a fitness camp near Ann Arbor, Mich.” So much for the Flores option.

A trade is, of course, still a very real possibility. The Daily News’ John Harper wrote “. . a club source on Tuesday said the Mets continue to scout the Mariners’ Nick Franklin, trying to decide whether he can play shortstop well enough to justify the pop in his bat — not to mention giving up one of their young starting pitchers for him. Meanwhile, a source affiliated with another ballclub, who has past ties to GM Sandy Alderson, said the Mets are continuing to monitor the Diamondbacks’ shortstop competition, and “could jump in” to try to make a trade for either Didi Gregorius or Chris Owings before spring training ends.”

The Mariners seem to match up better with the Mets, and on the question of whether Franklin can handle shortstop on a major league level, most scouts, including Keith Law, believe he can do at an adequate job. Seattle has been said to want a top pitching prospect like Rafael Montero for Franklin, but the Mets are reluctant to give up that much. Seattle has been scouting the Mets extensively over the last several games, and some have said that they might accept someone like Jacob deGrom, or even a lesser pitching prospect if grouped with a good position player like Flores or Matt den Dekker.

The Diamondbacks, it is said, are seeking a catcher in any trade for one of their middle infielders. While Travis d’Arnaud is an obvious target for them, they probably realize that the Mets are not giving up their prized possession. Mets prospect Kevin Plewecki, who will likely start the season at AA Binghamton, could be an acceptable fall back, if the Mets combined him with a lower level arm.

There are many options for the Mets, but only if they are sufficiently convinced that the status quo is the only option that is unacceptable. Will Santana’s signing finally convince Stephen Drew that the time has come for him to modify his demands and make a deal? Might the possibility of the Mets signing Drew motivate the Mariners or Diamondbacks to reach out and push to complete a trade? As spring training proceeds to wind down, things could get very interesting.