Bye-bye, Bengie. Tired of haggling with Bengie Molina, the Mets yesterday played hardball and made one final offer to the free-agent catcher. They were rebuffed.
Hours later, Molina agreed to a one-year deal that will return him to the Giants.
An industry source with knowledge of the negotiations indicated the Mets’ final offer was one year for about $5 million with a vesting option. Molina instead took a one-year deal for $4.5 million guaranteed without an option.
“We feel that our offer was a very good offer,” Mets GM Omar Minaya said. “He may end up getting more in bonuses [from the Giants], but he was in a place where he likes it, and to get a player to go to another place, these things happen.”
Where do the Mets go from here for a catcher?
“We’ll look at the market or possibly go with the guys that we have,” Minaya said, referring to Omir Santos, Henry Blanco and Josh Thole.
The free-agent catching market includes Yorvit Torrealba, with whom the Mets reached agreement following the 2007 season, only to see the deal disintegrate because the team wasn’t happy with the results of his physical.
Torrealba has pending litigation with the Mets over that episode, but the catcher’s agent, Melvin Roman, told The Post his client would entertain an offer from Minaya.
“I am waiting for a phone call from the Mets,” Roman said, adding that Torrealba has no hard feelings toward the organization.
But a Mets official called it doubtful Torrealba will emerge as a candidate.
“We’ve got that lawsuit with this guy still,” the official said. “That would be weird.”
The Mets could pursue veteran free-agent Rod Barajas, possibly the best available catcher in a thin crop of backstops.
The 35-year-old Molina hit .265 with 20 homers and 80 RBIs last season for the Giants and was viewed as a dual threat who could bolster the Mets’ lineup while helping the pitching staff.
The Mets made their initial offer to Molina in early December, around the same time they extended a four-year, $66 million proposal to Jason Bay.
Minaya said the length of the negotiations with Molina didn’t make the catcher’s decision to re-sign with the Giants any more frustrating.
“We did the best we could to get him and we were not able to,” Minaya said. “But we’ll have to go to other plans that we have and we’ll have to find a way.”
* It was a busy day all around for the Mets, who avoided arbitration with Jeff Francoeur, Pedro Feliciano and Sean Green by agreeing to one-year deals with each.
Francoeur will get $5 million, Feliciano $2.9 million and Green $975,000. Angel Pagan is the lone remaining Met eligible for arbitration.
* The Mets also had a representative in Louisiana to watch Ben Sheets audition in front of scouts, and were impressed with reports they received on the right-hander. Sheets, who missed all of last season recovering from elbow surgery after starting the 2008 All-Star Game as a Brewer, had his fastball at 91 mph yesterday.
* Carlos Delgado also remains on the Mets’ radar, but his limited activity at first base in the Puerto Rican winter league doesn’t bode well for his possible return to Flushing.