Sherman: Mets targeting Willingham and Rivera [Winter Meetings]

With Jason Bay and Matt Holliday on the free-agent market and fairly free to set their own demands, the Mets may look to trade for a player to fill their hole in leftfield.

Josh Willingham from the Nationals and Juan Rivera from the Angels are two players they have interest in, according to Joel Sherman.

River has two years left on his contract, worth a combined $9.5 million.  Willingham is still under control by the Nationals, and earned $2.95 million last season.  He is a free agent following the 2011 season.

I think the Mets should take a look at both of these players, though I prefer dipping into the free-agent class first.  Both would be decent additions to the club.

I like Rivera.

Mets have interest in Willingham? [Twitter]

Here’s Ladson’s article on the Mets interest in Josh Willingham.

But here’s a pull from a Ladson article from two days ago…

LF Josh Willingham: The Braves are one team that has shown interest, but it seems doubtful the Nationals will trade him. He provided the power Washington needed last year and he was an excellent clubhouse presence.

(Ed. note: Over the course of the Winter Meetings, and likely for the rest of time on this site that Twitter is a relevant means of communication (hint: a while), you’ll see more posts like these.)