BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : McIlvaine Is Near Returning to Mets

Joe McIlvaine’s next stop in baseball appears to be a return visit to the New York Mets as general manager.

Al Harazin resigned as the Mets’ general manager on Tuesday, declining to take a job running the business end of the club.

McIlvaine left as general manager of the San Diego Padres less than two weeks ago after he was ordered to slash costs by trading away established stars such as Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield and Andy Benes.

“I’d be delighted to come back,” McIlvaine told WFAN radio. “I just wanted to take some time off. My wife is having a child, but I might have to put my personal situation aside.”

McIlvaine, Harazin and Frank Cashen worked together in the early 1980s to build the Mets into World Series champions in 1986, with McIlvaine and Cashen doing the trading. “I worked for the Mets for 10 years,” McIlvaine said. “I enjoyed my time there.”

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Rob Butler, left fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, suffered a ruptured ligament in his left thumb sliding into second base against the New York Yankees and will be sidelined for up to eight weeks. . . . David Justice, Atlanta Brave outfielder, said in Philadelphia that he had left the team Monday night to be with his wife, actress Halle Berry, who had to undergo an unspecified “hospital procedure.”