THE Mets have made it well known they are unwilling to meet Francisco Rodriguez’s quest for a five-year contract at record dollars for a closer. But, according to Mets officials, they currently are averse to going to even a fourth year for K-Rod or any closer.
In fact, the Mets have gone into a closer four corners, stalling to get a firm grip on what the true financial landscape is for the elite closers. They fear as the lone huge-market team searching for a ninth-inning stalwart that they may be bidding against themselves in considering four-year deals for either Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes. Besides, after seeing Billy Wagner breakdown during the life of his four-year contract, the Mets are leery of going to that length for any closer.
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They remain the favorites to land one of the top two closers on the market. Yet they are keeping other shorter options open as a hedge against feeling desperation to do the four-year dance. They are concerned about Kerry Wood’s health history and Trevor Hoffman’s diminishing stuff. Nevertheless, the Mets believe both have the stomachs to close in New York, which has become a big factor for the organization because many of their executives believe members of the bullpen pitched scared late in each of the past two seasons, which contributed to the club’s collapses. Their biggest worry about Fuentes is if he is built to close in New York.
Also when it comes to Wood and Hoffman, the Mets think both would be more amenable to short-term deals. This would mean fewer overall dollars at risk while also giving the Mets an opportunity to further discover if a Bobby Parnell or Eddie Kunz could be their closer of the future. One Mets official, in fact, said Wood threw the ball as well in 2008 as any available closer. Another official said of the possibility of Hoffman, “should we go one year with this guy rather than tie up our money for three or four years?”
The Mets also are taking their time in this market to see whether Seattle makes J.J. Putz available. Of all the potential closers, Putz intrigues them because of a combination of stuff and affordability (two years at $13.8 million left on his deal).
The Mets also remain very interested in Huston Street and believe Colorado, which recently obtained him from Oakland, would spin him again. The Mets had bad scouting reports on Street near the July 31 trade deadline, but their September reports had his fastball up again consistently in the 93-mph range, and they believe Street could – at the least – be a high-end eighth-inning man if they could secure a closer.
The Mets do not like the current pricetags on the White Sox’s Bobby Jenks and Houston’s Jose Valverde. Now it might turn out they don’t like the pricetags on K-Rod and Fuentes, as well, but end up doing three years with a very makeable fourth-year option or flat four-year deals because they badly want to fill the role. But as one rival executive said, “The Mets know they can wait. They know if one of those closers gets a four-year offer, they will at least go back to the Mets to see if the big dog in this market will top it. So why would the Mets act first before knowing for sure?”
If the Mets are unable to improve their pitching as they envision, they will then try to make a serious upgrade of their offense, and their top target then would be Raul Ibanez to play left field. They have limited worries that he is 36 because he keeps himself in such good shape, and they do not care that he bats left-handed because he hit .305 vs. southpaws last year.
But they should worry about the field of competitors for Ibanez, which is about 10 deep.