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National League

New York Mets: With a host of pitchers competing for the fifth spot in the rotation, Mark Hale of the New York Post reports the Mets are trying to work a deal featuring Scott Erickson. The former Oriole and Twin has had a good spring. He last pitched in 2002 and last pitched well in 1998. Meanwhile, the team is growing more concerned about sophomore phenom Jose Reyes. He is not recovering well from a the strained hamstring he suffered on March 14 and there is talk of having him start the season on the disabled list. "I'm not prepared to announce anything, but we need to talk about that," general manager Jim Duquette told Lee Jenkins of the New York Times, "It's obviously not encouraging. We're frustrated because of his frustration." Anticipating problems, the Mets traded for Ricky Gutierrez of the Indians on Sunday.

Pittsburgh Pirates: It's April 1 and the battle for the second base job is still going strong in the Pittsburgh camp. Bobby Hill and Jose Castillo are still neck and neck, reports Robert Dvorchak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hill had plenty of hype when he came up with the Cubs two years ago, but now finds himself fighting with the 23-year-old Castillo, who spent last year at Double A. There are apparently no hard feelings between the two. Dvorchak reports that the first person to greet Castillo after his walk off homer on Wednesday was none other than Hill. "Whatever it takes to get a win, I don't care who it is. I don't want a big deal about him and me competing. He has a Pirates uniform on. We're a team," said Hill.

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