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          New York Mets

          First-round pick may need surgery

          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterSep 15, 2010, 08:42 PM ET
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          Second baseman Reese Havens, who was drafted by the Mets in the same first round as Ike Davis in 2008, may be facing back surgery.

          According to an organization source, Havens is in New York, where he received injections for season-long injury trouble that started with his oblique muscles. If the trouble is not relieved within a few weeks, surgery may proceed.

          Havens, who was moved from shortstop this season, has been considered the best internal candidate to one day become the organization’s everyday second baseman. But persistent injury woes have terribly set him back.

          Havens, the 22nd overall pick two years ago out of the University of South Carolina, hit a combined .312 with nine homers and 19 RBIs between Class A St. Lucie and Double-A Savannah but managed only 125 at-bats this season.

          • Kirk Nieuwenhuis plans to continue playing this offseason, although an opportunity in the Dominican Republic may not emerge after all. If the Mets cannot secure winter-ball work for Nieuwenhuis there, the center fielder could instead fill the Mets’ outfield spot with Mesa in the Arizona Fall League.

          • First-round pick Matt Harvey is throwing, as the instructional league is set to begin Sunday in Florida. Mets officials say they won’t force Harvey -- who signed for $2.525 million out of the University of North Carolina -- into a game, but he will participate if up to it. Harvey did not throw at all this summer while agent Scott Boras negotiated with the Mets.