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Dillon Gee, Matt Harvey, Chuck James, Josh Stinson and Garrett Olson are scheduled to take the mound as the Mets head to Disney today to face the Atlanta Braves for the first time this spring training. (See the full upcoming pitching probables here.)

Friday's news reports:

• Fred Wilpon was not present, but Sandy Koufax nonetheless visited Mets camp Thursday. Koufax offered advice to Bobby Parnell at Terry Collins' request. Koufax, who keeps close tabs on the Mets from a distance by watching on TV, particularly wanted to meet top pitching prospects Zack Wheeler and Harvey. The Hall of Fame pitcher got to see Wheeler pitch in a minor league intrasquad game and apparently came away impressed. Koufax plans to return to camp later this month.

Wrote Mike Puma in the Post:

Sandy Koufax talked mechanics, and Parnell mostly shut up and listened. Koufax had seen enough of the fireballing right-hander in recent years to know what kind of message to impart. The Hall of Fame left-hander said Parnell has an "exceptional" arm, but could benefit from small changes. "Where you hold [the ball], how you hold it and how you use it," Koufax told The Post when asked to summarize his chat with Parnell. "Times have changed in what people believe, and I just believe a little differently sometimes."

• Left-hander C.J. Nitkowski, who turns 39 today, auditioned for the Mets as J.P. Ricciardi and Dan Warthen watched, on the same mound where Johan Santana had just completed his bullpen session. Warthen was Nitkowski's pitching coach with the Detroit Tigers. Nitkowski, who has not appeared in the majors since 2005, had a procedure last year in which his own stem cells were injected into his left shoulder. He also was tutored on a Pedro Feliciano-like sidearm delivery by none other than former Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson, who is now in his first year as Baltimore Orioles minor league pitching coordinator.

"Hopefully it gives me an opportunity to extend my career," Nitkowski, who pitched for the Mets in 2001, told reporters about the sidearm delivery. "Realistically, I knew after not playing in the States since 2006 and wanting to come back, I knew I was going to have to do something different. I was kind of hitting a wall even when I was here."

Nitkowski played in Japan and South Korea from 2007 through 2010, then in winter ball in the Dominican Republic this past offseason. He is a product of Don Bosco Prep and St. John's. Read more in the Record, Journal, Newsday and Post.

• Union chief Michael Weiner visited the Mets on Thursday as part of his tour of spring-training camps. Weiner did not take the opportunity to chastise Wilpon and family for what likely will be the largest single-season payroll drop in major league history, currently projected at $52 million. Read more in the Times, Journal, Star-Ledger, Newsday and Daily News.

• After throwing a regular between-starts bullpen session, Santana pronounced himself ready to make his second Grapefruit League start, three innings Sunday against the Miami Marlins. "I'm not the doctor," catcher Mike Nickeas told Mike Kerwick in the Record. "I don't know how [the shoulder] feels. But I thought his stuff was A-plus today."

Columnist Joel Sherman in the Post notes you could tell from Santana's body language that his shoulder feels well. Writes Sherman:

A pitcher concealing pain will cut a session short. He will not motion for Mike Nickeas to stay in his squat. To take a few extra pitches to the catcher’s mitt. "What you saw is what Johan Santana always looks like, except for when he has not felt good," Warthen would say afterward, his lingering smile also proof that, well, Santana feels better than good.

Watch Santana discuss the session here. Read more in the Star-Ledger, Daily News and Newsday.

• The Mets lost Thursday's Grapefruit League game, 5-4, to the Marlins. Mike Pelfrey had a rough outing as he struggled to control his sinker, which is a point of emphasis this spring as he tries to reduce the career-high home run total he allowed last season. Pelfrey allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. Read more in the Times and Newsday.

• Pedro Beato has rotator cuff inflammation, according to a team spokesman. Beato, who underwent an MRI in Florida, may begin light tossing as soon as Sunday. Meanwhile, center fielder Andres Torres was scratched Thursday with a tight right glute. Collins said Torres may return to the lineup as soon as Saturday.

• Columnist Bob Klapisch in the Record suggests Collins is putting on a brave front of confidence as impending doom looms. Writes Klapisch:

Terry Collins is standing on a back field at the Mets’ spring training facility, separated by 1,000 miles and the 90 or so losses that likely await him at Citi Field this summer. By all accounts, there should be an anvil floating over the manager's head, but Collins is to optimism what Saudi Arabia is to oil. It overflows. "Cinderella stories happen, so why can’t it be us?" he said. "I have to think good things are in store for us. It's my job to believe, and then get my players to believe it, too."

Collins also tells Klapisch: "People say we didn’t sign anyone, but hey, we’re getting Santana back. That's the same as adding a free agent -- an ace pitcher who looks like he’s healthy again. We’re getting a healthy David Wright. We've got Ike Davis fixed up. You put all three of those guys on the field at the same time, and you never know. That’s not a bad little team."

Of course, you can also rank the 25 starting pitchers in the National League East and see where the Mets' pitchers check in. Or, you can look at the paper-thin depth, where for every start not made by a member of the rotation, Miguel Batista or someone comparable gets one.

• Columnist John Harper in the Daily News notes that Frank Francisco does not hold runners on well. That's often a problem for closers, but it is particularly bad in Francisco's case. Thirty-three of 36 attempts against him over the past four seasons have been successful, Harper notes. It's not so much a disregard for runners as a problem throwing to first -- as in consistent off-line throws. A scout told Harper teams would bunt on Francisco too while he closed for the Toronto Blue Jays because of his throwing issues. Warthen said the issue is more on throwing fielded balls to first base, rather than pickoff throws. Writes Harper:

In Frank Francisco's first spring training appearance for the Mets on Monday, he gave up a single and, on the next pitch, pinch-runner Eury Perez took off for second. In a conversation about his new closer a few days later, Terry Collins said he knew the runner would go on the first pitch. Why? "Because they know Frankie doesn't throw over," Collins said. Huh? "It's something we're working on," said the manager.

TRIVIA: Who is the only active major league pitcher to have a better winning percentage than Santana (minimum 125 decisions)?

(Thursday's answer: The game before Jose Reyes made his major league debut on June 10, 2003 at Texas, Joe McEwing started at shortstop for the Mets.)

During his visit to Mets camp Thursday, union chief Michael Weiner said there will be more equity in interleague play beginning in 2013. Still, Weiner noted, the Mets and Yankees as well as other natural rivals will continue to play.

Once the Houston Astros move to the American League West in 2013, each division will have five teams. As a result, Weiner said, for the most part the NL East teams largely can all play the same opponents in interleague, except for any adjustment to preserve series such as Mets-Yankees.

An MLB official noted, however, that it is "much more complicated than that and there will be more than 15 interleague games."

Said Weiner: "With five teams in each division, you can now have a much fairer interleague-play schedule, because each of the five teams in the National League East, for example, will play the same competition in the American League Central or the American League West or whoever they're matched up against.

"There will be a deviation to allow for those natural rivalries. It means that with the exception of that deviation, the schedule for division rivals will be virtually identical. It's not going to be 162 out of 162, but it's going to be much closer than it was able to be in a world where you had four-, five- and six-team divisions to try to match up."

• Mets officials believe a pool of players will become available with five days remaining before Opening Day because of a provision in the new collective bargaining agreement. A player with major league experience who signed with a team this past offseason on a minor league deal will become a free agent five days before the regular-season opener if he fails to make the major league club unless he is paid a $100,000 retention bonus.

Teams wary of forking over that dough in order to preserve organization depth may cut some players loose.

"When we negotiated that provision, it was to protect veteran major league players who are under minor league deals," Weiner said. "Because from our experience -- talking with those players and talking with their representatives -- they want to know [their fate]. If they're not going to make a team, the ability to be out there as free agent five days before Opening Day gives them a chance given other roster fluctuations to find some place to go.

(Read full post)

Union chief Michael Weiner addressed Mets players Thursday during his annual visit to camp, then offered support for Fred Wilpon and fellow owners.

“The concern is, players want all 30 franchises to be healthy and to be prosperous,” Weiner said. “It’s best for the game. It’s not as narrow a concern as, ‘Well, we want the Dodgers or the Mets to be able to bid for free agents.’ If the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are prosperous, the game does better. Those are our flagship franchises, with tremendous history.”

Weiner then noted Sandy Koufax was visiting the Mets’ clubhouse Thursday morning.

“That’s what makes this game strong,” Weiner continued. “When franchises like the Mets and Dodgers are strong, it’s best for everybody, whether they’re bidding on free agents or not.”

The Mets are poised for what likely will be the largest one-year payroll drop in Major League Baseball history, from $143 million to $91 million.

“We understand that when you negotiate a market-based system that payrolls are going to go up and payrolls are going to go down,” Weiner said. “Nobody is happy. I’m sure nobody in the Mets’ front office and ownership is happy with a drop in their payroll, because they understand that has to have some effect on their competitiveness. I wouldn’t say a red flag, because we know what the circumstances are. What we’re looking for is hopefully quite soon the Mets will be in a situation to come back and be a team that is going to be more competitive and again be the flagship franchise they’ve been for so many years under the Wilpons.”

Weiner agreed the Wilpons had built up some equity during their three-decade ownership.

“The Wilpons want to win,” Weiner said. “I don’t know much about the legal circumstances. The Wilpons have been strong owners and whatever is happening outside with respect to them is happening outside. But the way they’ve conducted themselves throughout their tenure is what I’m relying on.

“You want to limit me to only talking about spending. But Fred Wilpon and others have done a lot of things to try to enhance the game of baseball. But I guess you’re right. They have some goodwill in the bank.”

Weiner’s visit to Mets camp comes during the same week that agent Scott Boras criticized teams with payrolls that don’t match their large-market size.

"When you’re seeing franchises in major markets not pursuing to the levels that the revenues and the fan base and the market provide, then I think you have an ethical violation of the game,” Boras had said.

Weiner said in response: “Scott’s entitled to his view. I think the Wilpons are doing everything they can to try to put a competitive team on the field.”

Lots of meetings Wednesday morning for the Mets, as they do back-to-back sessions on security and dealing with the media.

On to the news reports ...

• Maybe Fred and Jeff Wilpon will sell more than 25 percent of the Mets -- while not giving up control. Steve Greenberg, the man charged with finding investors, tells The New York Times: "Let's just say that a noncontrolling stake could be north of 25 percent." Authors Richard Sandomir and Ken Belson write: "Several investors who have stepped forward publicly and others who have formed groups privately have said they want either a majority share of the team or an option to obtain control of the club over time. While the process is just beginning and teams are rarely sold quickly, several bidders have applied to Major League Baseball to be approved to examine the Mets’ books. Bidders must prove that they have the financial wherewithal to buy the one-quarter share being sold -- a stake that could cost at least $100 million -- and the background that will make the other 29 owners comfortable with them."

• The Post's Mike Puma reviews Ike Davis' tale. Poised to be the Triple-A first baseman last year, that changed when Daniel Murphy injured his right knee the final week of spring training and the Mike Jacobs/Fernando Tatis platoon didn't work out. Now, Davis is a recognizable figure in New York. "In New York I got noticed last year," Davis tells Puma. "If they follow the Mets at all, I don't look like anyone else. I'm very tall. I have a beard, a big nose, what are you going to do? I've got to stand out in a crowd a little bit."

• Terry Collins originally did not think Carlos Beltran would participate in full workouts with the team at this point in addition to his leg work. But Beltran has done so, and now Collins is prepared to use him at DH during early Grapefruit League games. The Mets have an intrasquad game Friday, then open official Grapefruit League play Saturday against the Braves in Port St. Lucie with Jenrry Mejia on the mound. Read more about Beltran's usage in Newsday.

• Union chief Michael Weiner and the MLBPA visit every camp by the end of spring training, and the Mets were second on the list. Tuesday in Port St. Lucie, Weiner said he was assured by the commissioner's office that the ownership legal issues would not impact players' guaranteed contracts or the operation of the team going forward. He also said he had full faith the Mets would act appropriately and use Francisco Rodriguez in a manner to win games and not pull any funny business that would jeopardize the closer reaching 55 games finished. That total would vest K-Rod's contract for 2012 at $17.5 million. Read more in Newsday, the Times, Daily News, Star-Ledger and Wall Street Journal.

• Steve Popper in the Bergen Record discusses Fernando Martinez, the one-time top Mets prospect who signed for $1.3 million at age 16 in 2005, during Omar Minaya's first period signing international free agents. Now 22, Martinez has developed an arthritic right knee and has averaged 77 games per professional regular season due to injury. "It's not that you doubt the talent," assistant GM John Ricco tells Popper. "It's getting the [at-bats]. If not, that's in the equation. Angel Pagan was a similar case. Everybody knew he had the talent, but you start to say, 'OK, how long can we go?' At some point he's going to have to stay healthy."

• Right-hander D.J. Carrasco's last full year as a starting pitcher was 2005 with the Kansas City Royals. He suffered a shoulder injury that September and was released after the season, notes Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger. Carrasco is technically in the rotation competition, but he's likely to settle into a bullpen role and will be on the roster after signing a two-year, $2.4 million deal. Writes McCullough: "From 2008 to 2010, Carrasco maintained a fielding-independent pitching mark (which removes fielding from the ERA equation) below 3.75 each season. He maintained a 2.04 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He allowed a homer about once every 18 innings."

• Trustee Irving Picard is diversifying to other team's former players. Former Islanders great Bobby Nystrom is the subject of a $1 million clawback lawsuit in the Bernard Madoff mess, Newsday broke. ... The Wilpons want documents from Picard, which you can read about in The Wall Street Journal.

• The Times tells you how you can buy a T-shirt that reads "Madoff" in Mets' script and colors. Classy.

• This is as far as I want to drift from Mets coverage, but Picard is suing the family of a top Security and Exchange Commission lawyer in a $1.5 million clawback lawsuit, the Daily News reports. The article does note the defendant "was not an SEC employee at the time of the estate transactions involving his mother's account. He returned to the SEC in 2009." According to the report, the lawyer became an executor of his mother's estate, which included a Madoff account, in 2004, and liquidated it in '05 at a profit. He had served as the SEC's general counsel from 2000-2002 and then from 2009 until recently. The report claims to be a "gotcha" by asserting that he should have disclosed that when he returned to the SEC. The Daily News then finds someone to assert that should vindicate the Wilpons.

• Marty Noble at MLB.com profiles likely backup outfielders Scott Hairston and Willie Harris. I had previously documented Harris' catches against the Mets in recent years with the Nationals and Braves. Hairston also had a stellar one as a Padre against David Wright, Noble recalls -- a lunging catch in left-center during what was three straight 2-1 losses by the Mets at Petco Park in June 2008. "I thought I had a chance for three RBIs when Scott got me," Wright tells Noble. " But Willie Harris has killed us -- what? -- seven or eight times?"

• Post columnist Mike Vaccaro also tackles Harris, figuratively. Writes Vaccaro: "I like to think of myself as a closer in the outfield. ... Outs are so hard to come by in the major leagues. If a pitcher knows he can rely on you to deliver them when he absolutely needs one, that's a big plus."

• From the out-of-town newsstand, I highly recommend reading new Brewers ace Zack Greinke discussing his social anxiety disorder, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

• Meanwhile, Mets beat writer David Waldstein of the Times had to drive south to Miami to track down Isiah Thomas regarding his role in the Carmelo Anthony deal, so we'll give him a plug. "I have no comment on that," Thomas said, while acknowledging: "I always want to see the Knicks do well, and I want to see Jim [Dolan] do well."

BIRTHDAYS: Bobby Bonilla, who works for the Players Association, turns 48. More relevant to the Mets, he goes on the payroll on July 1 for 25 years at $1,193,248.20 annually as part of a deferred compensation agreement from his playing days. ... Ron Hunt, the first Met to start an All-Star Game, in 1964 at second base, turns 70. ... '69 Met Ken Boswell turns 65. ... John Morris, who primarily played for the Cardinals during seven seasons in the majors, turns 50. He has no affiliation with the Mets, but did play high school ball for Mepham High School on Long Island before attending Seton Hall.

MLB union chief Michael Weiner visited Mets camp Tuesday and addressed the Mets' ownership situation and whether he's concerned the team may attepmt any funny business with respect to ensuring Francisco Rodriguez's vesting option for 2012 does not kick in.

With respect to ownership's Madoff situation, Weiner said he has been assured by the commissioner's office that players' guaranteed contracts will not be affected by the Wilpons' legal issues.

"There’s a couple of levels there," Weiner said. "We want to make sure that all contractual obligations to the players are honored and we’ve been assured through the commissioner’s office that’s the case. So there’s no concerns there.

"As far as broader questions, look, it’s in the interests of everybody associated with baseball that the National League franchise in New York be a strong franchise. And the Wilpons have always attempted to field a competitive team. They’ve had success at doing that during their tenure. And we certainly hope they’re in a position to continue to do that. But the real key is less what the payroll of the Mets is -- [it] is that a team like the New York Mets, the National League entrant from New York, should be in a position to be a strong franchise."

Asked specifically about having a big-market team not as active in free agency because of financial constraints being a concern, Weiner replied:“You’re right in this sense: The key to a strong player market is having a number of different teams out there competing for players. We know that in any given year, you’re not going to have 30 teams out there competing for players. It’s just not the way it works. Look, whether it’s the Mets, whether it’s the Dodgers -- frankly the Twins, Tigers, any team -- if there’s something that’s going to prevent them from participating as they normally would in whatever cycle they would be in bidding for players, that’s a concern for us. At this point, we’ve been assured through the commissioner’s office that the Mets are going to be able to continue to operate as they have in the past."

K-Rod's option vests at $17.5 million for 2012 if he finishes 55 games this season. Otherwise, he receives a $3.5 million buyout in addition to his $11.5 million salary and becomes a free agent.

“We monitor every situation for compliance with the Basic Agreement,” Weiner said. “But I have every expectation that the Mets are going to honor both the Basic Agreement and Frankie’s contracts.”

As far as how much latitude a team has in not using a player when a vesting option is nearing, Weiner said: “There’s arbitration precedent that deals with that, that essentially says that the club’s decisions for using a player have to be motivated by trying to win. There’s arbitration precedent that makes clear that a team cannot sit a player down or decline to use them in order to prevent him from earning a bonus or having a year vest. But again, I have every expectation that the Mets are going to fully honor the Basic Agreement.”