Mike

Piazza

''He’s a little ways off yet,’' manager Art Howe said.

Tosca, originally scheduled to meet Mets brass this week, will interview with new GM Omar Minaya and other front-office officials next week. Ooh, it’s hard to see that one working out. We weren’t fans of Tosca’s managing with the Jays, and he doesn’t seem to fit the Mets or New York. Jim Fregosi and Frank Robinson are other potential candidates.

Well, it’s questionable whether Minaya can make things any worse in New York, but he certainly wouldn’t be our choice to try to turn things around. The D.C. Expos (Washington Greys?) should be better off without him.

Piazza said he did not necessarily want to be pegged as either a first baseman or a catcher, but that he did want more certainty about what he’d be doing. What the Mets decide about Piazza is the first key to their offseason roster moves. If he’s their first baseman, they might go after a Magglio Ordonez. If he’s the catcher, they could bring in Carlos Delgado. If he’s not the answer at either position, they could trade him to an AL team looking for a DH/part-time catcher.

GM Jim Duquette expects Piazza to return on or before Sept. 2. He will primarily play first base during the final month.

He’s scheduled to play first base today. GM Jim Duquette said Piazza will return no sooner than Monday. Wait for the latest update before activating Piazza for the coming week.

FYI for those of you in daily transaction pools.

Randolph remains the heavy favorite for the job.

Considering that trading Piazza would almost certainly result in the taking on of an inferior player’s bad contract, the Mets might as well keep him. They will look to add an everyday first baseman, taking Piazza out of the mix at that position.

“We’ve had that discussion with the Mets already and Mike’s catching,” agent Dan Lozano said. “End of story.” The Mets didn’t consider extending the first base experiment after it went so poorly last season.