The Mets have re-signed 40-year old righty reliever/starter Miguel Batista to a minor league deal. Batista pitched in 9 games (4 starts) for the Mets last year and he was 2-0 with a 2.64 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Batista threw a complete game shutout for the Mets last year, which was pretty darn impressive. Batista pitched in 35 games (5 starts) overall last season for the Cardinals & Mets and he was 5-2 with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. He has now pitched in 623 games (243 starts) in his first 17 years in the majors and he is 101-112 with 41 saves, a 4.48 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. Batista proved last year that he still has some gas left in the tank, so I think he’ll have a really good shot of making the Mets’ pitching staff this spring.

The Mets have signed 30-year old righty reliever Fernando Cabrera to a minor league deal. He pitched in 53 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the A’s last year and he was 4-3 with 9 saves, a 2.71 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. Cabrera last pitched in the majors back in 2010 with the Red Sox. He has now pitched in 132 games (0 starts) in his first 7 years in the majors and he is 8-7 with 1 save, a 5.24 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. Cabrera has whiffed 193 batters while only walking 98 of them in his 175 1/3 innings in the show. If he can tame the flame and throw strikes in 2012, he could help the Mets at some point of the season.

The Mets have signed 27-year old righty swinging SS/2B Sean Kazmar to a minor league deal. Kazmar played in 127 games in AAA-ball for the Mariners last year and he was 117 of 462 (.253 avg, .660 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 3 homers, 45 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. He last played in the majors back in 2008 for the Padres. He played in 19 games for the Padres in 2008 and he was 8 for 39 (.205 avg, .520 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. The Mets are likely going to stash Kazmar in AAA ball in 2012.