--OF Fernando Tatis, voted by his peers as the National League Comeback Player of the Year, gave up a chance to become a free agent, agreeing to re-sign with the Mets on Oct. 30. Tatis will get a one-year, $1.7 million contract.
Tatis, out of baseball entirely in 2004 and '05, hit .297 with 11 homers and 47 RBIs in 273 at-bats. His season ended when he suffered a separated right shoulder on Sept. 16 in Washington, though he is playing winter ball and did not need surgery. --2B Daniel Murphy, RHP Eddie Kunz and C Josh Thole represented the Mets in the Arizona Fall League's Rising Stars all-star game. Murphy plans to continue his offseason activity by playing winter ball in Puerto Rico.
--RHP Pedro Martinez's odds of returning in 2009 appeared to dim further with bullpen coach Guy Conti being reassigned within the organization. Martinez, a pending free agent, and Conti are exceptionally close, and the Mets likely wouldn't have removed Conti from the big-league staff had they intended for Martinez to return. Conti was Martinez's first pitching coach in the United States -- in Great Falls, Mont. It's expected that Martinez will sign elsewhere this winter rather than retire.
--3B David Wright's charity, the David Wright Foundation, will host its fourth annual "Do the Wright Thing" gala at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan on Nov. 12. David Cook of "American Idol" fame will perform. Visit davidwrightfoundation.com for more information.
-- Former manager Willie Randolph is being considered for the bench coach job with the Rockies. He is owed $2.25 million by the Mets in 2009.
BY THE NUMBERS: 2 -- Vacancies in the Mets rotation, with LHP Oliver Perez and RHP Pedro Martinez both free agents. Rookie LHP Jon Niese should compete for the No. 5 slot in spring training, but the Mets likely need to bring in two starters from outside the organization this winter, including a high-profile free agent such as RHP Derek Lowe.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "He's the one who brought it up. He brings it up all the time when he sees me." -- Rays RHP Dan Wheeler, on his conversations with Mets vice president Jay Horwitz during the World Series. With self-deprecating humor, Horwitz reminds Wheeler how the pitcher was traded from the Mets to the Astros in August 2004 for minor-leaguer Adam Seuss, who failed to develop.
