Mets Sign Francisco Rodriguez

burning the candle at both ends huh

it'd be nice to finally see a big name change uniforms.

yessss
get him away from anaheim!

$36/3 with an option I hope!

thank god....it took us long enough now we need to add like street and or beimel/cordero to make this a solid bullpen and get rid of heilman...now lets move on2 a second basement starting pitcher and left fielder omar

Mets= My Entire Team's Spanish

your operative ignorant term is "spanish"...k-rod's venezulan not a spaniard.

I'm kind of surprised that he couldn't get more than 3 years guaranteed after seeing the type of term that Rivera, Nathan, Ryan, Lidge and Cordero have gotten over the last couple of years.

TIM D.

you are the man. keep up the great work.

KCsince88,

As a Reds fan, yes it was.

The Reds problem in 2007 was NOT the Closer but the guys who pitched in the seventh and eighth Innings. Getting Jeremy Affeldt and Mike Lincoln helped the Reds Bull Pen more than getting and overpaying for Cordero did.

Even with Cordero, the Reds only won two more Games than they did in 2008 and still had a losing record.

If the Reds had just looked ahead to after the 2008 season, they would have seen that there were going to be more good Closers on the market. That means there would have been a better opportunity to get a Closer as good or better than Cordero and at a less expensive price.

But "Win now" Ca$htellini was shortsighted and impatient and just HAD to have Cordero (and Dunn and Toothpick Baker).

Because of his impatience, I can't stand the thought of what the Reds might do this year.

mike923 "Mets= My Entire Team's Spanish"

david wright
mike pelfrey
aaron heilman
dan murphy
ryan church
brian schneider
Nick Evans
Billy Wagner

and this year Omar drafted THREE white guys in the first 2 rounds, Ike Davis, Reese Havens, and Brad Holt

You are, by far, a fool

K-Rod will go down as the best ambidextrous-hurling closer to have ever closed a game--much less won a world series. Looking forward to his HOF speech.

If they can get K-Rod that will take care 1 of 3 top priorities: http://www.ontheblack.com/2008/12/09/top-3-priorities-for-the-mets-this-off-season/

"Just a year ago, a lesser, older free agent closer, Francisco Cordero, received four years and $46MM."

that strike anybody else as flat out CRAZY?!?!

Yes, this completely baffles me. Krod just recorded the most saves in MLB history, i don't understand at all.

congrats to the mets if they get him. Im glad to see one of my 3 teams got him :)

While I can definitely see K-Rod regressing from his '08 stats and I believe he could have quite a few DL trips in his future, you really can't fault the Mets if they get him at 3/37. That is a great contract for them considering his past performance.

I wonder if it will have some crazy opt out after one year clause.

Very intelligent post Fairfaxadelphia.

It also holds no confluence to this topic.

Your faulting the Mets for going after the best talent at the positions they need??

Am I missing something here? Aren't teams suppose to win?

It's a joke retartds, just like the old one My Entire Team Sucks one was which was said for years, when of course the entire team didn't

Moving on, it is a good move of course for the Mets, lets see how K-Rod can handle NY, though I think he should be fine

"As a Phillies fan, I have so much fun laughing at this pathetic Mets team. This team can buy talent, but not chemistry. Choke-choke-choke.
Make it three years in a row, baby!!"

Chemistry does not win ballgames.

Why is it people that always say things like this use a lot of "!" marks?

Honestly, if this is the deal, the Angels need to swoop in and counter. This is well within their budget and, no matter which side of the fence you fall on with this guy, he puts people in seats.

"While I can definitely see K-Rod regressing from his '08 stats and I believe he could have quite a few DL trips in his future"

Why DL trips? His ankle issue was solved and his mechanics are really good. There is no reason to think he should get hurt. Further, he pitched as well as he did this year, while essentially re-making his pitching style. He was still working out kinks with his change-up at the beginning of the year and actively taking velocity off his fastball to gain better control. He may well be better next year because of it.

"The more I think about it, the Mets really should offer K-Rod a deal like 3/36. What team out there will even match that offer if the Angels aren't interested? How many serious fits are there for K-Rod? Detroit maybe, but supposedly they are trying to slash payroll. St Louis? They are too smart of an organization, I can't see them offering much more then that for a closer. Milwaukee needs BP help, but they aren't spending that type of cash on a closer either. I really can't think of any team besides the Mets who would be willing to pay even close to what he wants. I have been openly against K-Rod coming to the Mets, but if you can get him on a 3 year deal for around 40 million, I couldn't object. I would not go above 3 years, and I would not offer him 15 million a year. Maybe 13, preferably 12. What team would K-Rod be a good fit on for 3/39 besides the Mets right now?

Posted by: nrmax88 | November 09, 2008 at 04:44 PM"

Haha, and I got dogged pretty hard for making that suggestion. Just saying. Nice job Omar. Two years in a row he got the guy he wanted on his terms. Way to go.

Chemistry is not a bad thing, but talent plays. It is what it is. You have a better chance of winning with a group full of all stars that don't get along well then a bunch of league average players who love each other. The Braves of the 90's just happened to have both.

I guess if you want to play the "friends are going to stay together" card, it could actually affect winning for a long time, but in terms of whether or not chemistry changes a team's chances of winning with the roster as it is now, it does not.

What was the original offer from the Angels? Wasn't it something like 3 yrs/45M?

Wow, his price sure has dropped since the beginning of the offseason. Still, his price at the beginning was way more than his value, so this is a good pickup for the Mets.

You know, as an Angels fan, this is bittersweet. I think K-Rods problem, ever since 2002 - - was he hit the lottery on his first ticket. He came up a young kid, had AMAZINGLY electric stuff, and ever since 02, he's had the swagger of I can beat anyone. That cause more than a few balls to end up home runs in years passed. His Save record is more of a Angels team number, because honestly? there were MANY a white knuckle save for us fans in the OC. I think he and his agent assumed money would rain down from the heavens, and when a real offer came and it wasn't Mariano Rivera money as expected, they settled for it. I wish K-rod well and thank him for his great years as an Angel. I wonder who will miss the other more in this scenario...K-rod or the Angels....? time will tell

nrmax,

haha, he's NO Lidge. Just for kicks i compared their stats from the last 2 years. ALso i never realize that Lidge had so many strikeouts earlier in his career. Even if you add say a Cruz, we've still got the better bullpen, IMO, but hey I'm biased. Then you've gotta start worrying about your rotation. We've certainly got less holes, but we better start plugging them soon.

Very good signing. Could be the best of this off-season. As an Angels fan I am very sad to see him go, especially at this price.

Trying to figure out the bullpen advantage now is just stupid. The Mets could do nothing else and have a better pen then Philly next year. You just never know. Madson could struggle while Heilman bounces back. Romero could struggle while Feliciano bounces back. It is just too hard to predict the way a pen will play out. The Mets had a great pen filled with nobodies in 06. Nobody thought Philly's pen would be better in 07 but it was. Guys go up and down in the pen from year to year more then any other professional athletes. We will see what happens. I really am not worried about the rotation. Ollie will probably be back, if not a guy like Lowe or Sheets or Burnett. After that, they will sign a veteran and let him battle with Niese to win the last spot. Lidge was better then K-Rod last year, but that hasn't always been the case. Lidge and K-Rod were actually more similar in 08 then I thought. The Mets have Santana/Maine/Pelfrey locked in, while the Phils have Hamels/Myers/Blanton locked in. They both have some rotation issues to figure out before the season starts.

best move so far......even better now that they have the money to do more......so what do you figure????Fuentes to close out the 8th for 6-9 million a year for 2 option for 3rd......and you guys said Minny was crazy to low ball

No it wasn't. No matter what this isn't a meaningless signing. No more type A relief arms. Just bring in some arms like Chad Cordero, Juan Rincon etc. Keep Heilman. He is the only current guy who gets LHB and RHB out, bad 2008 not withstanding. Just find a guy or two without crazy platoon splits and bring him in. Maybe it is Parnell or Kunz. Maybe it is Brad Holt. No more big money moves in the pen.

I'm with you nrmax, I feel like you need to import a few fresh arms, but not any more big money FA for the pen. Take a few chances on cheaper FA and trade for guys your scouts like and who don't get a ton of attention. The beauty of the K-Rod signing is now the Mets CAN legitimately pursue an upgrade at SP or in the offense. It doesn't have to be John Garland or Raul Ibanez either.

My guess is the next step is making absolutely sure they can't move any of Castillo's contract. If they can manage, they could have upwards of $20 million in payroll room for this year. You have the flexibility to target Derek Lowe or even Manny Ramirez and not worry about going over budget.

Agreed. I was thinking about Manny also. He hasn't received that much attention. I still say if you can move Luis you just take a shot with Murphy at 2B and live with whatever he gives you, if he can hit like he showed last year. I love the sound of Manny in this lineup though. I also would like to see Ollie back, though I would understand if they move in another direction. I just think having a lefty of his caliber to face the Phils is a huge advantage, there are no other lefties like that available and he has been able to neutralize Ryno and Chase Utley for the last 2 years, which is very important if you want to be Philly.

Trade Heilman&Feliciano for Street.

Trade Castillo for a bag of balls, and an opened bag of sunflower seeds.

Sign Ollie

Sign Manny

Take a nap.

Bottom has fallen out on closers, or is the market for K-Rod that worried about his long term viability with his violent delivery? I still think Wood may get 3/30, but not sure Fuentes will get that now.

"No it wasn't. No matter what this isn't a meaningless signing. No more type A relief arms. Just bring in some arms like Chad Cordero, Juan Rincon etc. Keep Heilman. He is the only current guy who gets LHB and RHB out, bad 2008 not withstanding. Just find a guy or two without crazy platoon splits and bring him in. Maybe it is Parnell or Kunz. Maybe it is Brad Holt. No more big money moves in the pen."

I agree with nearly all of this. They really need to avoid spending any more big money on the bullpen. Maybe they revisit Huston Street, but otherwise I don't really think a big addition makes any sense for the bullpen.

They desperately need to use the rest of their money on the rotation and lineup. A rotation of Santana, Pelfrey, Maine, Niese and ???????? is simply not enough to contend, especially if the lineup is basically Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Murphy, Church and two black holes at second and catcher.

Do the Mets really want two lefty pitchers with $120M+ contracts though?

I mean you could say the same with the Giants, but they've probably already accepted that Zito is a sunk cost basically.

If the Mets make the playoffs the Packers receive a 1st round pick in the MLb entry draft in 2009. If they win a World series, the Packers get 2 first round picks in the MLB draft next year, while getting a 6th rounder in the NFL draft.

.260/.320/.480**

**being a phillies fan, I love hearing the mets dishing out big contracts. the more the merrier. Seeing as our owners are cheap and dont like to spend our revenues on the team, I am happy when the salary caps are evened out a bit by 20 mill contracts like santana. also, has anyone noticed that omar only brings in spanish people to play for the mets? white people are peppered into their lineup in david wright and john maine, aaron heilman, but everyone else is pretty much spanish. Im not the racist here, the mets ownership is haha**

And now we see why everybody hates Philly fans. Who cares about race? Seriously? What does race have to do with anything baseball related? You're not the racist but you played the race card. ONLY IN PHILLY!

And I think the problem of Mets fans have with the catcher is that he was brought in for defensive purposes and he could call a good game. And Schneider did neither and Milledge is going to be a stud...

While I find it fascinating that you are drunk at 530 on a tuesday,

"the Packers receive a 1st round pick in the MLb entry draft in 2009."

not knowing what team he's on is unacceptable.

LOL Favre is a Jet now...

"While I find it fascinating that you are drunk at 530 on a tuesday,

"the Packers receive a 1st round pick in the MLb entry draft in 2009."

not knowing what team he's on is unacceptable."

But it isn't unacceptable the the Packers would be getting an MLB draft pick though, right? I mean, the whole post was just so ridiculous I thought you, of all people would see the sarcasm in it.

***And now we see why everybody hates Philly fans. Who cares about race? Seriously? What does race have to do with anything baseball related? You're not the racist but you played the race card. ONLY IN PHILLY!***

it is a race thing apparently in NY omar miniya doesnt like black people. i said it. more than 75% of your team is spanish, i dont know of any other team like yours in the league. either way it doesnt matter. your never making the playoffs. the mets blow and are masters at the art of choking. stock up on aspirin next season mets fans.

KLofton, with that spelling and grammar, no one takes you seriously.

And champs, they wore Los Mets on Meringue night. They have special nights like that for all different people, such as Irish, Jewish, etc. It's because New York is so diverse that they try to recognize everyone, it's a promotion. You could be the stupidest person on Earth, congratulations.

Okay, great, the Mets got a closer. So how about the 7th and 8th inning?

"Yup, New York is so diverse, ur right, but u dont see any other languages besides spanish on their jerseys for the other promotions do u? U could be the dumbest person on earth for being so nieve? And btw u smart Metropolitan fan, stupidest isnt a word"

Wow. Just wow. Just.... wow.