INDIANAPOLIS - The Mets are talking to the Brewers about a swap of starter John Maine for left fielder Corey Hart, The Post has learned. A big motivating force behind the trade is new Brewers pitching coach Rick Peterson. Maine had his best season in 2007 (15-10, 3.91 ERA) with Peterson as his Mets pitching coach, and Peterson has told friends he believes he can keep the oft-injured Maine healthy and productive. The Mets want a left fielder with power, but Hart's homers have dropped from 24 to 20 to 12 last year.
More and more, the Mets believe they will not play for one of the big free-agent outfielders, Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. So they also are looking into trades for Washington's Josh Willingham and the Angels' Juan Rivera.
Rivera has two years at $9.5 million left on his contract, and has long been an Omar Minaya favorite; Minaya obtained him from the Yanks when he was the Expos GM as part of a trade for Javier Vazquez.
Willingham should about double his $2.95 million 2009 salary after hitting 24 homers last year. He is, however, a woeful left fielder and a free agent after the 2011 season.
*** Kelvim Escobar pitched in just one game last season for the Angels, failing to come all the way back from August 2008 shoulder surgery. But he plans to pitch in Venezuela this month as a showcase to interested teams, a list of about a dozen clubs that includes the Mets and Yankees.
Escobar only wants to be considered as a reliever.
