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          New York Mets

          GM: Mets unlikely on Kang, Flores likely SS

          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterDec 16, 2014, 12:02 PM ET
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          NEW YORK -- Sandy Alderson suggested Tuesday that the Mets are "unlikely" to bid on South Korean shortstop Jung-Ho Kang. The GM added there's a "very high" probability Wilmer Flores is the Opening Day shortstop.

          "We've been looking at it. We've been talking to Alan Nero, who has represented Kang," Alderson said Tuesday, at a Mets holiday party for schoolchildren at Citi Field. "It's about the transition from the Korean league to Major League Baseball. It's about questions surrounding the player's ability to stay at shortstop -- or possibly having to move elsewhere. Those are really the two major issues for us. I'm not saying we won't make a bid, but I'd say right now it's less likely."

          Alderson said the Mets were not in on free-agent shortstop Jed Lowrie, who just signed with the Houston Astros.

          Regardless, Alderson portrayed the probability of Flores playing shortstop as strong.

          "I don't think the Lowrie signing increases the probability, because we weren't really in on Lowrie," Alderson said. "To that extent the probability [of Flores as the Opening Day shortstop] remains about the same, but I think it's very high."