Milledge could be on the way out

Ken Davidoff at Newsday, writes about Lastings Milledge and why he might be traded this off season:

The Mets stockpile some options, this offseason increasingly looks like a potential loss for Lastings Milledge.

"There's a lot of interest in some of my young guys," Minaya said yesterday at the Naples Grande. "My young starters, definitely some of my young outfielders. But it's one of those things where it's got to be the right names."

Mets officials internally discussed the idea of offering Milledge and reliever Aaron Heilman to the Blue Jays for Vernon Wells, with the idea of moving the centerfielder Wells to rightfield and shifting Shawn Green to left. But Toronto would need more than that package if it were to move the All-Star Wells, who is a year away from free agency. Milledge would be a natural piece of a package to land Florida's Dontrelle Willis, if the Marlins became amenable to such talks.

Milledge, 21, hit .241 with four homers and 22 RBIs in 56 games for the Mets in 2006 as he shuttled between the Mets and Triple-A Norfolk. Far more troubling than his numbers, however, were behavioral issues like showboating and tardiness, and that seems to have put his future in question.Yesterday, Minaya spoke highly of Milledge, saying the outfielder's status was "fine. Perfect. He's solid. We could go with him as the every-day guy. If we don't do anything [to get a veteran leftfielder], I think he'll be ready to play."