NEW YORK, NY — Top-tier free agent closer Francisco Rodriguez, known as “K-Rod” because of his high strikeout totals, has signed a 3-year, $37 million contract with the New York Mets.
Mets' GM Omar Minaya with Johan Santana, whom he brought in last year to make 2008's collapse one to remember
The Mets filled their closer spot, a void left by Billy Wagner who will miss most of 2009 following elbow surgery. Sources close to the team say that general manager Omar Minaya has expressed hope that this signing will make the annual Mets September collapse even more intriguing than in previous years.
“Sure, K-Rod will help us jump out to a ten, fifteen game lead by July,” Minaya said in a press conference Tuesday. “That’s been done before. This year, we’re looking for more of a blowing-a-ten-game-lead-in-eleven days type of thing. Please, rest assured, that the Mets will not make the playoffs in 2009 despite what the baseball pundits say about how K-Rod shores up our bullpen. Have we choked late in the season with me as GM?”
“Maybe I’ll set another save record, only to blow a three-run lead in the ninth on the last day of the season,” Rodriguez told the media. “I don’t know. Don’t forget, I’m an expert in this choking late in the season thing. Remember those division titles we won in Anaheim and how I gave up those big home runs in the playoffs to the Red Sox? I’m a perfect fit for the Mets.”
Rodriguez’s contract also includes various incentives for pitching well from April to August.
