The Mets say they are currently monitoring the Manny Ramirez situation with the Red Sox. That's another way of saying there is absolutely nothing brewing ? for now. But Boston's bungling of the Johnny Damon negotiations has made Ramirez, the Red Sox left fielder, even more angry, a source said yesterday, and he's now open to a trade to the Mets. However, the Mets haven't engaged in serious talks with the Red Sox since Boston's new front-office structure was announced earlier this month, and the two teams didn't talk yesterday. The Mets believe it will be more difficult to pull off a trade now that Damon is out of Boston. If the Mets were highly interested in making a deal, they could approach Ramirez's agents beforehand and ask if he would waive his no-trade clause. However, they haven't done that this winter, sources said. That's because the Mets weren't sure whether Ramirez truly wants to play for them, but he would strongly consider waiving his no-trade clause and coming to New York, a source confirmed yesterday. Earlier this year, Ramirez made it known he prefers to be traded to the Angels or Mariners. He also would be willing to go to Baltimore, according to a source. Now the hard part is making the deal. Ramirez is one of the few remaining run producers in Boston's lineup, so it would be hard to let him go. However, there are other glaring holes the Red Sox desperately need to fill; Damon's exit leaves Boston without a center fielder. The Red Sox already were missing a shortstop and first baseman. Before Damon's exit became official, co-GM Ben Cherington addressed the issue Tuesday afternoon. "Our position is the same as it's been all along," Cherington reportedly said during a conference call. "I think we have a pretty good idea of what Manny's value to our team is. "We're trying to accommodate his request by listening to teams in terms of what they would offer for Manny. We haven't gotten to a point where we feel that we're getting something that was of equal value in return. "In our perception we're not getting equal value in return, so therefore nothing's happened. We also continue to talk to Manny and his representatives and continue to work on flushing out the issues that he has. That's an ongoing process."