From the New York Post’s Michael Morrissey.

Boston’s bungling of the Johnny Damon negotiations has made Manny 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.

New York can’t approach Manny’s representatives regarding the no-trade clause without being granted permission by Boston. Otherwise, I believe they call that “tampering”. In addition, though the Orioles might be an option in Ramirez’ mind (allegedy), anything less than Miguel Tejada — with no salary relief to the O’s — and isn’t gonna fly in Boston, especially not after losing Damon to an AL East rival.

As we hear of the Red Sox scrambling to find a new center fielder (Jeremy Reed? Joey Gaithright?), it wouldn’t be out of line to suggest that Omar Minaya was hasty in trading Mike Cameron to the Padres. We’ve seen just how desperate Los Angeles, the Cubs and now the Red Sox have been for outfield help.

Longtime Orioles bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks, a catcher for the O’s powerhouse teams of the late ’60’s, has passed away at the age of 64.