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Rickey Henderson's career with the New York Mets appears to be nearing an end.
ESPN's Peter Gammons reported Tuesday that Henderson was put on unconditional waivers Monday, which eventually will lead to his release from the club.
|  | | Rickey Henderson had expressed earlier he wanted out. |
Those waivers expire at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday. Henderson remains on the active roster during this time. If no one claims Henderson for the $20,000 waiver price -- and it's unlikely because of his $2 million salary -- it is expected that the Mets will put Henderson on release waivers, which would expire Monday.
Release waivers would allow a club to claim Henderson for $1. If no one claims Henderson by Monday, the Mets will release Henderson. At that point, Henderson becomes a free agent and can sign with any team.
Prior to Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh, Mets general manager Steve Phillips denied the accuracy of Gammons' report, although Phillips wouldn't talk specifically about Henderson's waiver status.
In the meantime, Henderson can play for the Mets while he is on waivers. A spokesman for the Mets said that club policy was not to discuss waiver moves, and Henderson was in the starting lineup at game time.
Henderson is batting a meager .207 with just two RBI, 14 runs
scored and two stolen bases. Before Tuesday's 1-for-4 performance, he had an on-base percentage of .362 in 26
games.
He went 1-for-6 during this past weekend's series in
Florida but did score two runs in a 4-1 victory on Friday.
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ESPN.com analysis
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Yes, Rickey Henderson's .362 on-base percentage will be missed. But he has stolen just two bases and his .217 slugging percentage is absurdly low, so at 41 he really doesn't deserve a major league job. Throw in his, uh, lack of contentment, and the Mets really didn't have a choice.
They do have a choice when it comes to replacing Henderson, with Benny Agbayani and Jon Nunnally both playing well this season. Melvin Mora's available, too, and Jay Payton may be out of a job when Darryl Hamilton returns from the DL. The problem is the same as it's been all year, though. The Mets simply don't have a championship-quality outfield, and they're not going to have one until they go outside the organization.
-- Rob Neyer
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Henderson, 41, and Mets manager Bobby Valentine have
had a stormy relationship during the past two seasons.
On a number of occasions Henderson has criticized the
organization and Valentine. Last year he was upset at being
pulled from the outfield during a National League Championship
Series game and was apparently playing cards with former
teammate Bobby Bonilla when the Mets' season ended in the 11th
inning of the Game 6 loss to Atlanta.
This spring, Henderson made public his desire to either receive
more playing time or be traded after Phillips refused to give him a two-year contract extension. He then said
he would not travel to Japan for the season-opening series with
the Chicago Cubs, but eventually made the trip.
Last month, Valentine jokingly told a group of students at the
University of Pennsylvania that he "ignores" Henderson's antics
before going on to say that "Rickey is Rickey."
The Mets are currently without center fielder and potential
leadoff hitter Darryl Hamilton, who is about to undergo surgery
on an ailing toe and will be sidelined for four-to-six weeks. Melvin
Mora is hitting just .255 and has yet to prove he can handle the
job on an everyday basis despite a strong performance in the
NLCS.
Henderson won his record 12th American League stolen base title
while with the Oakland Athletics in 1998 and signed as a free
agent with the Mets in December of that year. Last season he
batted .315 with 12 homers, 42 RBI and 37 stolen bases in 121
games, spending a couple of weeks on the disabled list in May
with a strained knee.
Henderson broke Lou Brock's record when he collected his 939th
career steal in an Oakland uniform on May 1, 1991 against the
Yankees. He is baseball's all-time leader with 1,336 thefts.
Information from SportsTicker was used in this report.
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 Mets general manager Steve Phillips disputes reports that New York will release Rickey Henderson.
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