Emerald Garden

Buffalo -- Heading into the Winter season Meetings, the Mets knew they could have to wait for Jon Lester to signal before the market for Dillon Gee took shape. That sizable domino dropped late Tuesday night, but if the Mets were expecting a quick resolution to follow, they did not quite acquire it.

Instead the team spent Thursday poking around potential offers without actually making 1. It is still likely that they'll buy and sell Gee or one of their some other starting pitchers soon, perhaps even prior to going the Winter Meetings on Thurs ., but the right offer provides yet to surface.

'We've been acquiring conversations that I think have already been independent of Lester,' general manager Sand Alderson said. 'I don't really think Lester offers impacted any of our chats.'

Still, teams that lost from Lester now must focus the energies elsewhere. The Mets make it known that Wow is available and have had at the very least preliminary discussions with close to a half-dozen clubs.

'We've had on-going conversations with clubs [since] little one Lester signed, so I think there is a little more activity and things are all a little looser than they have already been,' Alderson said. 'But I think that's probably a function of the diary and not Lester. We're getting into the past couple of days of the Winter Conferences, and things typically acquire a little bit at that time.'

It would benefit the Mets to move relatively quickly, if only because their trade tells you could affect dealings in other locations. One official floated the thought of trading Gee in a package for Rockies reliever Rex Brothers, for instance, which would satisfy the club's wish for a second lefty to complement Josh Edgin. That offer did not appear to have much element as of Wednesday evening, but when something similar surfaces in the future, there is no point in the Mets using a free-agent lefty.

The same logic retains for a right-handed bench bat or possibly a shortstop, even if it is unlikely which the Mets will receive one of those in a cope for Gee. Until Alderson bargains away an excess starting glass pitcher, it will be difficult for him to handle other areas with full clarity.

'When [things] pile up and you have more than one to handle, there are always going to be issues,In . Alderson said. 'It's nice to get 1 or 2 scratched off the list.

'I believe we're comfortable that i will be doing something. It could happen today. It could happen down the road. It could be a little later. We all still assess the market along with what we think is the value of the players, and try to act appropriately. Sometimes that happens quickly. It sometimes doesn't.'

That's not to say the Mets are totally hamstrung until they make a deal relating to a starting pitcher. They could still check in with organizations and agents regarding their shortstop want; to that end, Alderson said, his staff is deciding whether to bid for Korean infielder Jung-Ho Kang. And they can still accomplish plenty of legwork on killers and bench bats.

But it is clear that trading a new starter is their priority over these Winter Meetings, and the timepiece continues to tick.

'We certainly would choose to do something while we're here, and cross one thing away our list,' Alderson claimed. 'We're hopeful that will happen. But it is hard to predict.'