Sheffield activated, Cancel DFA'd

Gary Sheffield has been activated from the disabled list.

To make room on the roster, the Mets DFA'd catcher Robinson Cancel. Cancel has one plate appearance this year.

Phillies acquire Lee and Francisco

The Phils have acquired Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco for Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, and Lou Marson.

Lee is 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA this season. Francisco is hitting .250 with 10 HRs and 33 RBIs and can play the outfield.

File under: Tacky

Wow. How tacky. The Mets recently unveiled "players choice gear." Gary Sheffield, John Maine, Omir Santos, Bobby Parnell, Daniel Murphy and JJ Putz worked with designers to create t-shirts/jerseys that reflected "them."

Here's the full story:

Mets unveil new Players Choice gear

Five players combine with designers to create fresh look

NEW YORK -- Prior to Tuesday's game against the Colorado Rockies, the Mets unveiled the Players Choice Signature Series -- a set of merchandise designed by six Mets players for their fans -- that will be sold exclusively at the Players Clubhouse Store at Citi Field and on MLB.com.

Daniel Murphy, Bobby Parnell, J.J. Putz, Omir Santos and Gary Sheffield were on hand to model their own gear. John Maine, the sixth Met to take part in the project, was not available due to his shoulder injury.

The players designed T-shirts, jerseys and hats with consistent themes, working with Steve Wolff of Majestic in partnership with Aramark and Twins.

"We found we could make really fresh, dynamic products that reflect the personalities of the players," said Judy Heeter, director of business affairs and licensing. "It also sounds like the phones are ringing from other players and other teams who want to do the same thing."

Murphy built off his Irish heritage by infusing the Mets' classic road look with both the color green and a logo of a clover over his signature.

Parnell went with "earth tones" -- brown with camouflage lettering -- to give his merchandise an outdoors look that is big in his native North Carolina.

Putz strove for a patriotic feel, going with a camouflage jersey with red, white and blue lettering. Putz also produced an elaborate T-shirt design with his name in gothic letters above two eagles and a home plate bearing the Mets' interlocking "NY" logo.

Santos paid homage to his native country with a Mets logo that integrated the Puerto Rican flag in the background. His T-shirt consisted of a big picture of Santos in catching gear.

"I just wanted to see myself on a T-shirt," Santos joked.

Sheffield's jersey utilized a black pinstriped look with an elastic collar and the racing stripes down the shoulders and sides from the Mets' uniforms of the 1980s. The "10" on the back of the jersey includes a picture of Sheffield in action -- an idea the designers thought was particularly cool. Sheffield also made sure to include a logo celebrating his 500th home run, which he hit on April 17 at Citi Field.

Maine's gear showed off both the New York skyline and Mr. Met. Even though Maine wasn't there on Tuesday, it was his merchandise that was generating the most interest from fans early.

The players worked closely with Wolff, throwing out ideas before settling on themes, sketching designs and finally seeing them come to life in the attire they modeled proudly, if a little awkwardly, on "the catwalk" on Tuesday.

All five of the players present agreed that the project was a lot of fun to work on; they couldn't reach a consensus, however, as to whose merchandise was going to sell the most.

"Nobody's going to beat J.J.," Sheffield responded immediately.

"The guy on the end is going to do okay," Murphy replied, pointing at Sheffield. Putz added that Sheffield had the unfair advantage of sporting a logo for his 500th home run.

Jeff Wilpon apologizes to Adam Rubin on behalf of Mets

Multiple tweets are surfacing that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon is apologizing on behalf of the New York Mets to Adam Rubin of the Daily News. Omar Minaya called out Rubin during yesterday's press conference to discuss the firing of Tony Bernazard. Minaya said Rubin, who published the reports about the misbehaving Bernazard, had an ulterior motive.

Developing...

Game 99: COL @ NYM

Here are the starting lineups for Game 2 of a 4 game series at Citi Field. The game starts at 7:10 and can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN.

New York Mets (47-51)
Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Brian Schneider C
Alex Cora SS
Mike Pelfrey RHP (7-6, 4.99)

Colorado Rockies (54-45)
Dexter Fowler CF
Seth Smith LF
Todd Helton 1B
Brad Hawpe RF
Troy Tulowitzki SS
Ian Stewart 3B
Chris Ianetta C
Clint Barmes 2B
Jason Marquis RHP (12-6, 3.49)

Notes

• Mike Pelfrey is 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA in three career appearances against Colorado.

Weather

• 80° F and mostly sunny at gametime. (Very slight chance of T-storms.)
  

Mets sign Pettyjohn

The New York Mets today announced that they have signed LHP Adam Pettyjohn to a minor league contract and assigned him to the Buffalo Bisons. He has been activated to the team's roster today.

Pettyjohn was most recently in the Reds organization. He will likely take Brandon Knight's spot in AAA-Buffalo. Knight requested and was granted a release this weekend so he could sign with a Korean club.

Rubin defends self in today's Daily News

In today's New York Daily News, Mets beat writer Adam Rubin defended himself against the allegations made by Mets GM Omar Minaya. Rubin, who broke the eye opening stories of ex-VP of player development Tony Bernazard, was accused by Minaya of having an ulterior motive. This all happened during yesterday's coverage of the Bernazard firing, and to read coverage of that, read the blog I wrote yesterday.

Here's some highlights from the article by Rubin:

"Everything I wrote about Tony Bernazard - bombshell stories that appeared in the pages of the Daily News over the last week - is accurate."

"What I have done, and what Mets COO Jeff Wilpon acknowledged later yesterday, is ask Wilpon for "career advice." My question: Is it even remotely feasible for a baseball writer to get into an administrative job with a team - any team - down the road and what would I need for that to be achieved?"

"Wilpon once invited me to his office at Citi Field for an advisory session. I never took him up on it."

Rubin goes on to say that he got many of his stories directly from minor leaguers and their families.

Game 98: COL @ NYM

Here are the starting lineups for Game 1 of a 4 game series in New York. The game starts at 7:10 and can be seen on SNY and heard on WFAN.

New York Mets (45-61)
Angel Pagan CF
Luis Castillo 2B
David Wright 3B
Daniel Murphy 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Cory Sullivan LF
Omir Santos C
Alex Cora SS
Oliver Perez LHP (2-3, 7.97)

Colorado Rockies (55-44)
Dexter Fowler CF
Clint Barmes 2B
Garrett Atkins 1B
Brad Hawpe RF
Troy Tulowitzki SS
Ryan Spilborghs LF
Ian Stewart 3B
Chris Iannetta C
Ubaldo Jimenez RHP