Omar Minaya is very much looking forward to his meeting with Red Sox officials next week in Dallas, and the Mets' GM is still hopeful he can put the ultimate flourish on an already sparkling offseason by working a trade for Manny Ramirez. The Mets are not the only team interested in Ramirez, but their biggest competition is expected to be the Angels. The Phillies did have dialogue with Boston about a Ramirez-for-Bobby Abreu swap, but several sources said such a deal was a longshot since the Phillies would prefer a starting pitcher in return for Abreu (they were hoping to get Javier Vazquez from Arizona but that seems unlikely) and also aren't interested in taking on Ramirez's bloated contract. If the Mets were in the market for another outfielder, they actually might be the best fit for the Phillies since they've got starters to burn and have received numerous calls about Kris Benson. Although there were preliminary conversations between the Mets and Orioles about a deal that would send Benson to Baltimore for reliever Jorge Julio, it now appears several other teams could offer a more attractive package in exchange for the Mets righthander, and Minaya is expected to gauge his best move next week.