LAS VEGAS – Based on a number of reports and sources, Francisco Rodriguez will sign a three-year, $37 million dollar contract with the Mets tomorrow after a physical in New York.The Mets have seemingly reached this deal after two days of talk between the club and agent Paul Kinzer.”He’s a tremendously skilled closer,” said manager Jerry Manuel during his media session. “I was impressed with the energy he had when he came out and with that energy came confidence.”With Rodriguez, the Mets are signing one of the top closers in the game, who went 2-3 last year with a 2.24 ERA and a Major League record 62 saves for the Los Angeles Angels. Over his six year career, the righthander went 23-17 with a 2.35 ERA and 208 saves.

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Posted under Free Agency, Hot Stove, Nysd

LAS VEGAS – Mets manager Jerry Manuel arrived at the Bellagio late last night [around 11:30 p.m.] in advance of his conference with the media at 4:00 p.m. today.

- The Yankees will reportedly offer Ben Sheets a two-year offer today.

- The Mets will meet with free agent reliever Chad Cordero today. They met with closers Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman yesterday. They will probably want Cordero in a set-up role.

- The Red Sox seem to be interested in Brian Schneider.

- Adam Rubin reports in the Daily News, Fuentes could also recieve a two-year deal.

- There seems to be a lot of clubs asking the Mets about Aaron Heilman.

Posted under Free Agency, Hot Stove

One of the first things Omar Minaya said this morning on a conference call to announce his contract extension through 2012 (with club options for 2013 and 2014), was to admit something is wrong with the make-up of his team.

“There is something there, something missing, that the club needs to get over,” Minaya said.

Minaya singled out the bullpen as the area of main concern, but did not name and possible FA replacements.

“One of the top areas we need to address is the bullpen and the closer,” Minaya said. “There’s only a few guys in the game what we say can, ‘lock-out an inning,’ so we’ll have to look in the market place, or look internally, because for a championship team that is very important.”

To fill that void, and the projected starting pitching void without Pedro Martinez and Oliver Perez, Minaya said he would listen to trade offers for anyone, and that includes core players David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran.

Minaya called the trio, “winning players,” but added, “we owe it to ourselves to look at all areas. I’m going to be open-mined all winter.”

Minaya, however, isn’t shopping these three, and I got the impression this was GM clichespeak, in that all GM’s say they will listen to any proposals that could improve the team.

Minaya also said:

-Discussions are on-going on a contract extension for manager Jerry Manuel. It’s believed the Mets have a two-year deal on the table but Manuel is thinking three.

-The team is interested in bringing back Carlos Delgado, and has told his agent this.

-He’s interested in having Oliver Perez return and said he made progress.

-Said the team is waiting to complete its investigation and let the legal process take its course before making a decision on troubled reliever Ambiorix Burgos.

Posted under New York Mets

Mets COO Jeff Wilpon defended the decision to extend GM Omar Minaya’s contract at this time. Minaya was signed through 2009. He was given a three-year extension through 2012, with club options for 2013 and 2014.

“We failed this year, and we want to get the redemption we need and move forward, and we feel Omar and his staff are the best group to put us in that position,” Wilpon said. “We were not a good team before Omar took over. … Omar is our guy. We believe in Omar.”

Wilpon also said the current economic crisis in the country has not impacted the construction project at Citi Field: “We have not requested funds above what we have budgeted for.”

Wilpon would not say whether this year’s payroll of $143 million would be exceeded next year, but did not say Minaya had a ceiling.

I’ll have Minaya for you in a few minutes.

-Minaya said negotiations are on-going with manager Jerry Manuel on an extension.

-Minaya said the team is leaning toward bringing back Carlos Delgado. He has already spoken with his agent.

Posted under New York Mets

Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon are on currently on a conference call. Some highlights so far:

-Wilpon on why Omar: “We were not a good team before Omar took over. … Omar is our guy. We believe in Omar.”

-Omar is extended through 2012, with club options for 2013 and 2014.

-Minaya said negotiations are on-going with manager Jerry Manuel on an extension.

-Minaya said the team is leaning toward bringing back Carlos Delgado. He has already spoken with his agent.

Posted under New York Mets

The Mets will announce a contract extension today for general manager Omar Minaya to run through the 2012 season. His current contract runs through 2009.

After Minaya’s deal is announced, the Mets will focus on an extension for manager Jerry Manuel who replaced Willie Randolph, June 17.

Minaya said he took responsibility for the Randolph administration, and although the firing was clumsy, he should receive kudos for making the move when it would have been easy to stay put and hope for the turnaround.

Manuel has the player’s endorsement. Said Carlos Beltran: “I believe he should be back. He’s a great man and he did everything possible.’’

Posted under New York Mets

The Mets scheduled a telephone news conference for tomorrow to announce a new contract for general manager Omar Minaya. After Minaya, the Mets are then expected to finalize a contract for manager Jerry Manuel.

I’m sure plenty of you have thoughts on this, many of them heated as the Mets lost on the final day of the season for the second straight year.

This season brought several defining moments in Minaya’s career, beginning with the trade for two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins. Minaya also traded prospect Lastings Milledge to Washington for outfielder Ryan Church and catcher Brian Schneider.

The Mets, and Minaya, were criticized for their handling of Church’s concussion, and for circumstances surrounding the firing of manager Willie Randolph.

Minaya’s first order of business will be signing manager Jerry Manuel to an extension and patching a bullpen that blew 29 save opportunities.

Posted under New York Mets

John Maine will have surgery today to shave down a bone spur that irritated muscles in his right shoulder. He said it’s not a complicated surgery and would be ready for spring training.

“It needs to get done,” Maine said. “It’s a simple surgery, nothing major. No attaching or reattaching of anything. We’ll take the rehab seriously and I’ll be good to go for spring training.”

Maine should begin his rehab program in December and is expected to long-toss by the start of the new year.

Maine was activated down the stretch and hoped to pitch out of the bullpen, but manager Jerry Manuel wisely chose not to go that route.

Posted under New York Mets

The Mets were 55-38 under Jerry Manuel, a record good enough to bring him back. GM Omar Minaya is meeting with ownership today about Manuel’s contract. An announcement could be made this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

Minaya on Manuel: “Jerry did a very good job in a tough situation, overcoming injuries to [John] Maine and Billy [Wagner]. … I was very pleased with the job he did.”

I’ve been saying Manuel should return. Agree? Disagree?

Posted under New York Mets

With the Mets losing tonight, manager Jerry Manuel said Johan Santana would start Saturday against Florida on three days rest.

“I’m very concerned,” Manuel said. “We’ve put ourselves in a tough spot and we have nobody to blame for that but ourselves.”

Manuel said Santana told him he wanted to pitch on short rest on Thursday. Santana threw 125 pitches in his last start this week against the Cubs.

Should Sunday mean anything, Oliver Perez will pitch on three days rest in the season finale.

Posted under New York Mets