Davidoff's Baseball Insider

Bobby Cox is no Roger Clemens or Brett Favre. This will be his final year as a manager.

You know when the team makes such an announcement, as the Braves did toward the end of last season, that it's serious. That means Atlanta management won't be begging Cox to return for 2011.

Cox, who turns 69 in May, said he has found it easy to not get caught up in his personal situation. "It's just business as usual, honestly. Focus on the year," he said. "It has some meaning, but not right now. It really doesn't."

It would be highly out of character for Cox, always regarded as a players' manager, to put the focus on himself. As for Cox's successor, the leading candidate appears to be hitting coach Terry Pendleton, who helped Cox win his first National League pennant in 1991.

Hone on the range

For all of the Flushing boos directed toward Luis Castillo, he performed pretty well for the Mets last year. His .387 on-base percentage made him valuable, even if he offered no power whatsoever.

But Castillo's value was diminished because he simply didn't get to many balls while playing second base. His Ultimate Zone Rating was -10.4, meaning that according to the analysts at Baseball Info Solutions, Castillo cost the Mets 10.4 runs with his defense - compared with that of an average second baseman - over the course of a season.

With that in mind, the Mets are working with Castillo, 34, on improving defensively.

"It's tough, because as players get older - we all went through it - you're going to lose a little bit of range," said Chip Hale, the Mets' highly regarded new infield coach. "[Castillo] still has a lot of athleticism left. What I'm trying to do this spring is just get that out. Kind of push the envelope and see where we can go with it."

That entails nothing more sophisticated than infield drills designed to improve Castillo's flexibility at his position, Hale said, adding, "Sometimes as you get older as a player, you sort of settle: 'This is what I can do.' We're seeing if we can get him out of that comfort zone a little bit."

Extra bases

The Mets clearly followed our advice last Sunday, signing Kiko Calero to a minor-league deal just days after we advocated doing so. This week, therefore, the Mets should sign Joe Beimel, who limited lefty batters to a .297 on-base percentage.

After offering Billy Wagner arbitration in free agency, the Red Sox received the 20th and 39th selections in this year's amateur draft as compensation for losing Wagner to the Braves. In other words, those picks could have been the Mets', had they opted to not dump Wagner's salary last August.

Cox said he has been in touch with John Smoltz, who remains a free agent. "He wanted to let us know where we should send his meal money," Cox joked before adding, "He's staying ready."

Smoltz would've signed already had a team offered him a good deal; he and the Mets had some talks that eventually petered out. Now, though, Smoltz and Pedro Martinez seem poised to let the season play out some and perhaps enhance their value as the need for pitching increases.