Baseball by Dan Graziano

MLB analysis by The Star-Ledger columnist

It seems to be the week for shortstop roulette on the Hot Stove, and the latest is that the Pirates have sent Jack Wilson to the Tigers.

The teams had been in discussions for a while, but according to a person familiar with the deal, it is done. It's unclear what the Pirates get in return.

In the past couple of days, the Padres dealt SS Khalil Greene to the Cardinals and the Giants appear to have signed SS Edgar Renteria. Free-agent SS Rafael Furcal sounds as if he's about to sign with the Oakland A's.

UPDATE (1:48 pm): Tigers media relations department just called to tell me "there's no deal in place." This is an official team denial, and gives me no reason to doubt my initial source. But they were very nice, so I told them I'm put their denial in the blog. Don't be surprised if this deal gets announced in the next day or so.

We reported two weeks ago that the Giants were readying an offer for CC Sabathia, and events of the past couple of days have strengthened that belief. At the time, a person familiar with Sabathia's thinking said he was expecting an offer from the Giants and wasn't going to do anything about the Yankees' record-breaking six-year, $140 million offer until he heard from his hometown team in San Francisco.

The same person said the Giants were planning an aggressive off-season. And while no team has really had one of those so far, San Francisco has come the closest, signing two relief pitchers (Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry) and a shortstop (Edgar Renteria). There was a report on SI.com yesterday about the Giants trying to trade Jonathan Sanchez to the Marlins for Jorge Cantu. Basically, the Giants are trying to get the rest of their roster together quickly so they can make their play for Sabathia as the capstone to a big pre-holiday offseason.

We have confirmed that physical exams are the only remaining hurdle in a deal that will send right-hander Javier Vazquez from the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves. The deal was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of foxsports.com, who says one of the players going to Chicago in the deal would be infielder Brent Lillibridge.

How does this affect the Mets? Well, the Braves were a 90-loss team in 2008 and haven't been a real threat for the division title since 2005. But they are still run by smart people who remember when they used to win the division every year, and those people went into this off-season determined to find at least two frontline starting pitchers around which to build their 2009 rotation. Vazquez, the former Yankee, appears to be one of them.

Citi Field, the new home of the Mets -- the view from the field

Just sharing some photos I snapped with my phone while on a tour of Citi Field today. Bill Perlman should be up later with some better ones, since he's, you know, a professional photographer and all. But me and my new iPhone had a fun time of it, so I thought I'd share some stuff. Shea Stadium, for example, never looked better...

Shea Stadium dies a slow death....

Mets outfielder Nick Evans had an MRI on Monday at the Hospital for Special Surgery and was diagnosed with what the team described as a "mild quadriceps strain of the right knee"(sic). The Mets said Evans suffered the injury while playing winter ball in Puerto Rico (he last played on Nov. 19) and would undergo three-to-four weeks of therapy at home in Phoenix in preparation for spring training.

The only one of their free agents to whom the Mets offered arbitration is left-handed pitcher Oliver Perez, who is extremely likely to get a long-term deal, either from the Mets or another team. The Mets will receive draft-pick compensation if Perez signs with another team, but they are interested in bringing him back.

Moises Alou, Luis Ayala, Damion Easley, Orlando Hernandez, Pedro Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Ricardo Rincon and Matt Wise are the other Mets free agents. They were not offered arbitration. The Mets may continue to negotiate with them, but if they sign elsewhere the Mets will not receive draft-pick compensation. Of the group, Ayala, Easley and Wise are the most likely to be brought back, if anyone is.

There's this story today out of Denver, and it's interesting, for sure. For me, it speaks once again to the idea that the Mets are in a very strong position in terms of being able to sign a closer. If Brian Fuentes' agent is putting it out there that his client is planning to visit New York, it means he wants everybody to know that the Mets are interested in his client. And an agent only does that when he needs to drum up interest.

There's an industry-wide feeling that the Mets will end up signing Francisco Rodriguez to a three-year deal, and I see no reason to doubt it. A couple of weeks ago, it appeared that the Mets were torn between Rodriguez and Fuentes and would prioritize whichever one first came to them willing to do the deal THEY wanted (i.e., three years). But over the past week or so, it's become clear that Rodriguez has moved to the front of the list, either because they've decided they like him better or because they've been getting a vibe from him that he's willing to talk deal at their preferred parameters.

EPA PhotoStar-Ledger baseball expert Dan Graziano is betting the ets will sign Francisco Rodriguez to close games in '09.

No, this isn't about the Mets signing both Francisco Rodriguez AND Brian Fuentes. I believe they'll sign one of them (my money's on Rodriguez), and probably pretty soon. But as Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog keeps pointing out, the team is also focused on acquiring a setup reliever who has closer experience.