New York Mets

The New York City Industrial Development Agency has granted preliminary approval for financing assistance for the New York Yankees and the New York Mets, both of which plan to build new state-of-the-art stadiums.

The agency will issue approximately $866 million in tax-exempt bonds and $64 million in taxable bonds to build a new Yankee stadium in the South Bronx, which will be repaid solely from payments made by the Yankees through a payments in lieu of taxes structure, which will be submitted to the New York City Council for approval. The taxable bonds will be payable from rent payments made by the Yankees. The agency also intends to use exemptions from real property tax, mortgage recording tax and sales tax in connection with the project.

The Mets will be issued approximately $528 million worth of tax-exempt bonds and $104 million in taxable bonds for a stadium in Flushing, Queens, to replace the existing Shea Stadium (pictured). The bonds will be repaid in the same manner as the Yankees. Agency officials were unavailable for comment by deadline.

The stadiums will bring more than $1.5 billion in private investment and relieve New York City of having to pay maintenance and capital repair costs that would have exceeded rent payments by more than $113 million over the next 40 years for both stadiums. They will also generate approximately $157 million per year more in direct and indirect tax revenue than the city would have received from the teams without them. Estimated construction costs are $1 billion for the Yankees and $800,000 for the Mets, and both are projected to require more than 15,000 construction jobs and more than 1,800 permanent jobs.

On a day that started with the potential to shape their season in a bad way, the New York Mets received encouraging news on two health fronts on Wednesday when Pedro Martinez threw to hitters for the first time and Cliff Floyd's second-opinion kidney exam brought the outfielder relief.

An ominous tone could have been set with a setback to Martinez or had Floyd received sobering news.

After throwing 61 pitches to two minor leaguers, Martinez set the clock ticking on his return to the rotation, and two hours later Floyd came from his doctor with a sigh-of-relief announcement the second test showed a dramatic 17-point increase in his kidney functions.

Martinez's next step will be to throw batting practice again on Sunday.

The same went for Floyd, whose kidney function levels increased from 48 percent on the test administered by the Mets at the start of spring training to 65 percent after the second exam, which included an ultrasound given by kidney specialist Dr. Zeidy Roche.

Rookie Brian Bannister pitched four scoreless innings, and David Wright and Cliff Floyd each drove in three runs during a nine-run third as the New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles 11-4 Tuesday.

Bannister, the son of former major-leaguer Floyd Bannister, allowed a second-inning by Chris Gomez, his only runner. Bannister has pitched nine straight scoreless innings.

"My changeup is still my pitch in development," he said. "We threw some effective ones (Tuesday).

"It's not my go-to pitch or my two-strike pitch. My bread and butter is still back and forth with the cutter and fastball, then finishing guys with the curveball."

Bannister was a combined 13-5 last season at Triple-A Norfolk and Double-A Binghamton.

"I like what I've seen from him all spring, actually," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "He threw the ball well, and I like the way he carries himself. If he continues to pitch well, he obviously has a chance."

Orioles starter Erik Bedard gave up seven runs and six hits in 3 2-3 innings, throwing 70 pitches.

Wright opened the third with a homer and added a two-run single, and Floyd hit a three-run homer off Winston Abreu. Kaz Matsui hit a two-run single in the inning.