Bernazard investigation is "still ongoing"
HOUSTON - The Mets' internal investigation into the actions of vice president of player development Tony Bernazard "is still ongoing," assistant general manager John Ricco said Friday evening.
Ricco, the senior executive on this leg of the trip, said the human resources department and baseball operations department are looking into a report that Bernazard bullied the Double-A team in Binghamton earlier this month and challenged players to fight in the clubhouse while tearing off his shirt.
"Right now, it's still ongoing," Ricco said before the Mets' 5-4 loss to the Astros. "To be fair to the process, they are talking to all the people who were involved. Once that's done, we'll have something to say."
Bernazard was spotted in his New Jersey home Thursday but did not speak with reporters. Ricco said the investigation will last "as long as it takes to assemble all the facts."
Trainer's room
Ricco confirmed a Newsday report that John Maine will visit with Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion on his troublesome right shoulder.
Ricco said Maine, out since June 12 with right shoulder weakness, will see Andrews early next week in Birmingham, Ala.
"A second opinion is generally pretty much every time initiated by the player," Ricco said. "He said he wanted to. He's still feeling discomfort, so he wants to get another opinion. We're going to wait and see what Andrews said and take it after that."
Billy Wagner, who threw a 40-pitch simulated game in Port St. Lucie, is looking more like a realistic candidate to rejoin the bullpen in less than a month.
"He's getting close," Ricco said. "He's throwing a simulated game . . . He might have one or two more of those and then it'll be time for rehab [games]."
Extra bases
Fifty-game suspensions were given to six minor-leaguers who tested positive for banned substances, including Mets pitcher Derlin Soriano of the Dominican Summer League team.
Oh, Roy
The Mets have enough problems, but imagine how the team would sag even furtherif the Phillies acquire Roy Halladay before the July 31 non-waivers trade deadline. Not only would it boost the defending champs' chances of a second straight world championship, but the Phillies would have a one-two punch of Halladay and Cole Hamels for at least the 2010 season, too.
"It would be tough," manager Jerry Manuel said. "That would be a huge move. They are leading the division now by enough, and adding Halladay to that, that could be a tough task.
"But baseball is a funny game. Some things can really happen in this game. Some things can turn around in a heartbeat, and you just hope that at least from our point of view, that things are going to turn for us in our favor."
