In news that will surprise only newborn babies and people who have been trapped in an underground cave for the past 12 months, Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting that Mets’ manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya will not return to the club next season.

The Mets are planning to go outside the organization for the GM position and are thought to be considering several people, including former Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes, White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn and former A’s GM Sandy Alderson. Rangers GM Jon Daniels, a Bayside, Queens product, could be an intriguing option as he has an “out” in his Texas contract, but the new Rangers ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg has made it clear they want to retain him. Respected assistant GM John Ricco is expected to stay in his current role, but is said by people to fully understand the intention to go outside the organization for the GM position following a second straight losing season. The Mets are 77-82, an improvement from their 70-92 mark a year ago, but not enough to satisfy the club-owning Wilpons. They have missed the playoffs four straight seasons.

According to Heyman, the Mets may retain Minaya as a scout, which may or may not be a good thing. If someone has a skill, teams would be wise to retain that skill. But assuming he is relieved of his general manager duties, how would that work with him taking a lesser role? It would be like Michael Scott losing his branch manager position at Dunder Mifflin and returning to sales. Sure it could work, but would that create the best environment for all parties involved?

I also doubt the new GM would want Minaya hanging around, so maybe the best thing for the Mets would be if he just moved on. It’s been a tumultuous few years in New York and everyone needs a fresh start.

Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse is reporting that the Mets will rid themselves of not only manager Jerry Manuel by the end of the season, but general manager Omar Minaya as well.

There has been little doubt for a while the Mets will not bring back Jerry Manuel as manager, and a source confirmed reports that general manager Omar Minaya is likely out as well. Ownership seems to be leaning toward hiring an experienced GM, as they are not inclined to promote assistant GM John Ricco, and Wally Backman — a popular ex-Met who was nearly manager of the Diamondbacks before the team discovered some off-field issues he didn’t disclose — as manager.

Manuel is 197-203 (.461) in New York since first taking over as the interim manager in 2008. Under Manuel, the Mets went from being a second place finisher in the NL East to a fourth place finisher last year and as it currently stands, a fourth place finisher this year as well.

Minaya’s best season with the club came in 2006 when the Mets lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS, but outside of that he’s been the man in charge of putting together a roster of underachievers. Injuries have played a part in that, but enough is enough.

It’s time for the Mets to move in another direction.

For those Mets fans that were hoping either manager Jerry Manuel or GM Omar Minaya (or both) would be fired after yet another disappointing season in NY, think again.

With nine players on the disabled list, including three members of the Mets’ core, it became apparent early on that neither Jerry Manuel nor Omar Minaya was going to take the fall for the team’s dismal performance this season.

Manuel is signed through 2010, and Minaya’s three-year contract extension doesn’t even begin until next season. So it wasn’t surprising that a source confirmed today that COO Jeff Wilpon already has assured both Manuel and Minaya that their jobs are safe. The story was first reported by SI.com.

There’s no question that injuries have played a huge role in the demise of the Mets this year. So maybe Manuel and Minaya do deserve a mulligan for this season.

But regardless of injuries, this year has been an utter disaster for the Mets in terms of the most basic things in baseball. They can’t field pop ups, the outfielders don’t communicate on fly balls, the team struggles on a whole running the bases properly, etc. Those things have nothing to do with injuries – those are basic fundamentals of the game.

Now, is all of that Manuel and Minaya’s fault? Maybe not. But they both have had a hand in how poorly this club has played this year – injuries or no injuries.

Among all the moves, be they trades or free agent signings, the biggest non-signing of the MLB Hot Stove off-season has been that Manny Ramirez remains without a team. Actually he hasn’t even had an offer besides the Dodgers’ two-year, $45 million offer back in November. But last night, the Dodgers and beleaguered outfielder Andruw Jones (*) parted ways, freeing up some more money on their payroll to offer Ramirez. Manny fits well on that team and with Joe Torre’s easy demeanor. And he can loaf a bit more in between raking the ball all over Dodger Stadium. We’ll see, but with the Yanks signing Mark Teixeira, and the Angels focusing on their bullpen by signing Brian Fuentes, there are less attractive options for Manny other than remaining in La La Land.

In addition to the Teixeira Fuentes signings, Randy Johnson was inked by the Giants. This works out well for the Big Unit, who wanted to play in California and can easily reach 300 victories since he currently has 295. If only Barry Zito started pitching like Oakland Barry Zito, this staff would be looking damn good right now.

So one of the problems with the stalled Jake Peavy to Chicago trade talks was that the Padres wanted infielder Mark DeRosa and Cubs’ GM Jim Hendry balked at that. Well, Hendry had no problem shipping DeRosa to Cleveland for three minor leaguers, did he? I think there is more to that Peavy story than what we’re being told. I don’t know what, but somebody doesn’t like somebody somewhere, and my guess is there is an agent in that conversation.

So Derek Lowe doesn’t want to pitch for the Mets at three years, $36 million? Are you kidding me? How is that guy worth more than $12 million per season at 35 years old? Dude apparently wants a four or five year, $90 million deal. Good luck with that, Derek. Meanwhile the Mets are turning their attention back to in-house free agents Oliver Perez and Pedro Martinez, as well as less expensive options like Jon Garland or Randy Wolf.

* Omar Minaya, if you are reading this, DO NOT invite Jones to spring training. I know the Dodgers are paying his way in 2009, but the guy can’t hit his way out of a paper bag (the stats don’t lie…..158 batting average with 76 strikeouts in just 209 at-bats). Thank you for your attention to this matter.