Jan 5th 2009 5:05PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Remember, just a few days ago, that Derek Lowe was insulted by the Mets’ initial offer — because of Carlos Silva, naturally. Apparently that did the trick, because now the Mets are ready to amp up their courtship. With some other teams in the fray, expect Mets’ GM Omar Minaya — who said he expects negotiations to drag on for the next few weeks — to raise the offer in order to get his man.

As an aside, I have to tell you I’m just overjoyed that Lowe won’t be signing anywhere for the next few weeks. We haven’t had enough talk about him or his possible desination yet this offseason. He’s not yet to Manny Ramirez or Jake Peavy territory, but he’s sure getting there.

Anyway, apparently the Angels are also in on the Lowe sweepstakes — just sort of lying in the weeds. Remember, they lost out on the Mark Teixeira bidding. Though they did sign Brian Fuentes to close games, they still would seem to have plenty of money in the budget to outbid the Mets’ $36 million offer. It should be noted that this is an unlikely possibility.

I still think Lowe will eventually end up in Queens.