Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon with Johan Santana last year. (Tomasso DeRosa/NYSD)

The Mets  have called, not one, but two press conferences this week.

On Wednesday, they will introduce Francisco Rodriguez to the media at the team’s holiday party which will take place at the Citi Building in Long Island City. “Santa” Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Jerry Manuel will also be there.

Then on Thursday at Citi Field, Joseph Jason Putz will have his introductory press conference.

So it will be a full week for the Mets. And we will have live reports.

Also PBC returns on Thursday at 9 p.m to recap the week.

Posted under New York Mets

LAS VEGAS - Just moments ago, Omar Minaya officially announced what everyone at the Bellagio knew for the last 36 hours: Francisco Rodriguez is now a Met.

“We have come to comepleted terms in filling our No. 1 need in signing Francisco Rodriguez to a three year contract with the New York Mets,” Minaya said. “Our goal, from day one, was to improve our bullpen and I can not think of a better reliever than Francisco Rodriguez.”

K-Rod set a Mjor League record in 2008 with 62 saves. He also converted 23 saves when entering the game with a one-run league and 22 more with a two-run cushion. He went 2-3 with a 2.24 ERA.

“I am thrilled to join the Mets,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Mets fans are very passionate and playing in a new ballpark is going to be great. I am going to do everything I can to help bring a championship to Citi Field.”

Rodriguez, who wore Johan Santana’s No. 57 with the Angels, will switch the number around and go with No. 75 in Queens.

Posted under Free Agency, Winter Meetings

Rich Coutinho in his latest blog post, discusses the K-Rod deal.

To quote:

“So, here were the Mets and K-Rod in Las Vegas to put a capper on this beautifully orchestrated Omar Minaya waiting game and just to catalyze the process a bit, the team’s initial offer was a 2 year pact. That contract was officially presented to the K-Rod camp on the very same day the Mets were planning to meet with Brian Fuentes knowing that would make the guy they wanted all along just a little bit antsy. They also knew that they would eventually have to add a 3rd year to the deal but they did so at precisely the right time.”

Posted under Commentary, Free Agency, Hot Stove

LAS VEGAS - After meeting with closers Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman yesterday, the Mets seem to be close with free agent reliever Francisco Rodriguez.

After offering the bidding Sunday night with a 2-year deal for around $24 million, the club has upped the offer guartanteeing the third year to make it a $36 million contract.

With Mets COO Jeff Wilpon on the trip with Omar Minaya, the Mets seemed determined to come away with a closer and Rodriguez is the best one on the market. Originally the former Angel wanted a five year contract worth about $75 million, but because the closer market was satuated, the Mets seemed willing to wait as the money dropped.

Now after two meeting with Rodriguez and agent Paul Kinzer, the price seems to be in the Mets comfort zone and by getting him so cheaply, it opens up doors for the club to revamp the entire bullpen, which was one of the worst in the National League last season.

Last season, the free agent reliever went 2-3 with a 2.24 ERA and a Major League record 62 saves.

A deal may be announced later today.

Posted under Commentary, Free Agency

LAS VEGAS - According to reports, the Mets have offered K-Rod a three year deal. Although we have gotten no word yet.

Omar Minaya will be speaking with the media in a few hours. If there’s an announcement, it will probably happen then.

Other than that, I arrived at the Bellagio a few hours ago and will be having reports here, as soon as they come in.

Stay tuned and tune into Pro Baseball Central tonight at 10 p.m.

Posted under Free Agency, Hot Stove

Not much to report here, except the Mets are increasing their deliberate ways to get a free agent closer, be it K-Rod or Brian Fuentes.

It should get interesting come Monday, since general manager Omar Minaya wants to set himself up for the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas on Dec. 8, where he will have dicussions with K-Rod’s agent Paul Kinzer.

Of course, no one can blame the Mets for not doing anything, yet, because they don’t want to bid against themselves. In fact, they rather wait for the market to come to them and sign a closer on their terms.

Posted under Hot Stove, New York Mets

Dan Graziano of the Star-Ledger wrote this great article on the Mets needs on the offense this off-season. The veteran baseball columnist goes into detail on what the Mets can get position by position.

As for the outfield, he says, “It’s tough to find a perfect fit here, and the Mets seem to want/need to spend their off-season money on pitching. But I think this is where Omar Minaya needs to get creative — to remember the work he did in the 05-06 off-season to create a deep, multifaceted lineup with a strong bench, and to identify that as the main difference between his outstanding 2006 team and the disappointing units that gagged away playoff spots in 2007 and 2008.”

It’s good suff and a must read.

Posted under New York Mets

Ken Davidoff in Newsday reports the Mets are looking at a trade for the Whits Sox Bobby Jenks over free agents Francisco Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes.

To quote:

“But people in the loop say Omar Minaya is wary of investing a huge contract in free agent Francisco Rodriguez and is intrigued by the idea of trading young talent to Chicago for Jenks. An official from an American League club - not the Angels or White Sox - opines that the Mets would be better off giving up high-level prospects for Jenks than throwing big dollars at K-Rod.”

Personally, I would like to see a younger player like Jenks, who would be a Met for years, but is it worth giving up Daniel Murphy, Jon Niese ,and/or Fernando Martinez, especially after emptying the farm for Johan Santana last year?

Posted under New York Mets

The Daily News reports the Mets are looking to compete with the Yankees for CC Sabathia. In the three by-line article, the News baseball staff says Omar Minaya will look at how the free agent market pans out and may make an offer.

To quote:

“Meanwhile, Omar Minaya was dicussing a trade for a pitcher with a GM but said he would first have to see how Sabathia’s free agency was progressing, a baseball executive said. A Mets official subsequently wouldn’t deny interest in Sabathia.

“Such a deal with the Mets likely would require backloading some of Sabathia’s salary, at least until Carlos Delgado’s $12 million and Billy Wagner’s $10.5 million salaries for 2009 are cleared.”

For me, getting Sabathia would be a real coup for the Mets and if they do, Minaya will have a little less pressure on himself to totally revamp the bullpen, even though I expect major changes out there no matter what.

Posted under New York Mets

The following relievers will be available this winter in the free-agent market. Joe Beimel and Juan Cruz are intriguing, but are they worth throwing piles of money at? I’m not so sure.

Unquestionably, the Mets’ bullpen was horrible last season, but GM Omar Minaya’s analysis is wide ranging. Were the individuals simply bad and past their prime, or just had a bad season? To what degree were injuries a factor (Aaron Heilman)? How much did throwing out of their roles determine the results?

The Mets will add a body or two from this list, but I don’t see a major overhaul. If they don’t deal Heilman, and I’m starting to lean in the direction of them keeping him, the set-up relievers might not change that much.

I can see Heilman, Schoeneweis, Ayala, Feliciano and Smith coming back. I can also see Parnell or Kunz getting a shot. Then there’s the closer they’ll add, and the more I think of it, the more I can visualize it being Trevor Hoffman.

Here’s the list of available free-agent relievers:

Jeremy Affeldt CIN
Luis Ayala NYM
Joe Beimel LAD
Joe Borowski CLE
Juan Cruz ARZ

Brendan Donnelly BOS
Alan Embree * OAK
Scott Eyre CHC
Kyle Farnsworth DET
Casey Fossum DET

Brian Fuentes COL
Aaron Fultz CLE
Tom Gordon * PHI
LaTroy Hawkins HOU
Mark Hendrickson LAD

Trevor Hoffman SD
Bobby Howry CHC
Jason Isringhausen STL
Steve Kline SF
Brandon Lyon ARZ

Damaso Marte * NYY
Tom Martin COL
Julio Mateo PHI
Guillermo Mota MIL
Will Ohman CHC

Darren Oliver LAA
John Parrish SEA
Chris Reitsma SEA
Dennys Reyes MIN
Juan Rincon CLE

Francisco Rodriguez LAA
Brian Shouse MIL
Rafael Soriano ATL
Jorge Sosa NYM
Mike Stanton * CIN

Salomon Torres * MIL
Derrick Turnbow MIL
Oscar Villarreal ATL
David Weathers CIN
Dave Williams NYM

Matt Wise NYM
Kerry Wood CHC

Posted under New York Mets