The Mets probably won't make a serious push for the biggest free agent starters like CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets or A.J. Burnett. With John Maine expected to recover fully from surgery to remove a bone spur and Mike Pelfrey also in the top three, the Mets will be looking for a No. 4 and No. 5. Free agent Oliver Perez is expected to price himself out of the Mets' spending plans. "This is the core group of guys that won 97 games," Minaya said, referring to 2006. "This team I thought did an unbelievable job of getting us to today. The unfortunate thing is that we fell one or two wins short. We have to find a way to get those one or two wins. So far, the past two years, we haven't been able to do that."