Will catcher Omir (Pito) Santos have a spot with the 2010 Mets? Or is the club looking in another direction?

With both Henry Blanco and Chris Coste in the fold, along with Josh Thole moving through the system, the battle for the backup catcher’s spot could be interesting in Port St. Lucie in several weeks.

I’ll admit I have a soft spot for Santos, a good guy and hard worker from Caguas, P.R., who I watched play for the Trenton Thunder from 2005-07.  While not a power guy, he was superb handling a pitching staff and always pushed to improve his game.

There turned out to be no room for him the Yankees system after 2007, and Santos signed with Baltimore.His bat began to come alive in Triple-A in 2008 and he made his big-league debut with Baltimore that season.

The Mets signed Santos, 28, as a free-agent before last season, and it is easy to say he exceeded all expectations.   He batted .260 with 40 RBIS, 14 doubles and seven homers, including the first grand-slam in Citi Field history.

He earned a spot on the Topps All-Rookie Team in recognition for his strong season.

With the signing of Blanco, 38, to a 1-year, $1.5 million pact, Santos’ status with the Mets is certainly up in the air. The feeling in some corners is that Blanco is a better overall hitter and has a better arm than Santos, who does not excel  in that area.

While Blanco is only a .228 career hitter, the Mets like the fact he threw out 34.1 percent of potential base-stealers in 2008 with San Diego.

Still, I would hate to see Santos discarded after the way he performed last season.  The Mets could send him to Triple-A Buffalo, but one has to figure that Coste will likely be with the Bisons as a mentor to Thole. Three is often a crown among catchers at Triple-A,so Santos could end up being released.

The Mets plan to sign a starting catcher and, in this year’s free-agent marker, have shots at Bengie Molina, who is 35 and seeking a multi-year deal, and the likes of Rod Barajas, Miguel Olivo and Yorvit Torrealba.

Another possibility is another former Yankees farmhand – Dioner Navarro – now that Tampa Bay has acquired Kelly Shoppach from Cleveland.

For Santos, despite his solid effort in 2008, matters are not looking all that promising. Will the move to Blanco as the backup make that much difference?  Did the Mets ignore a solid, low-cost option with Santos, who is batting .296 (8-for-27) with hometown Caguas in the Puerto Rican Winter League?

Then there is Thole, who is hammering Venezuelan Winter League pitching at a .391 (52-for-133) clip with 24 RBIs in the midst of political unrest between that nation and Colombia.

For the Mets especially, it’s good the pitchers and a bevy of catchers –some still to be determined – report early to Port St. Lucie.

Jed spent 35 years in the newspaper business working as both a writer and editor, in both sports and news under tight deadline pressure. As both sports editor at the Indiana (Pa.) Gazette and a copy editor/columnist at The Times of Trenton, he made daily decisions on overall coverage and designed and produced thousands of pages and special sections. Since accepting a buyout from The Times, he has concentrated on broadening his writing and editing horizons to the medical, academic and business fields. Anyone is welcome to Google Jed to see the different places in print, on the Web and in front of the camera his professional expertise has spread to.

Jed Weisberger

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Tags: Bengie Molina, Chris Coste, Dioner Navarro, Henry Blanco, Josh Thole, New York Mets, Omir Santos