Francisco Rodriguez has reportedly agreed to a three-year, $37 million deal with the New York Mets.
ESPN is reporting that the deal is done pending a physical, while Foxsports is reporting that the contract includes a $14 million vesting option for a fourth year. The option is said to easily attainable if Rodriguez can stay healthy.
"I feel good where we are today, compared to where we were yesterday," Mets GM Omar Minaya told ESPN on Tuesday. "I'm going to stay positive. But total completion of the deal is when everything is signed, sealed and delivered, and [right now] we continue to have dialogue. That's the best I can tell you."
The three-year deal is one year more than the initial two-year, $24 million contract the team is said to have offered the All-Star hurler on the weekend.
The Mets had a disastrous collapse last September and fell just short of making the playoffs for the second year in a row, thanks in no small part to a struggling bullpen. The team is in the market for a top-level closer to replace Billy Wagner, who is likely to miss the entirety of next season after undergoing elbow surgery.
In the 2008 campaign with the Los Angeles Angels, Rodriguez broke the record for saves in a Major League season with 62, easily passing the previous record of 57 which was set by Bobby Thigpen in 1990.
In his seven-year career, the three-time All-Star has a 23-17 record with 208 saves and a 2.35 ERA in 408 games played.
Because Rodriguez was an 'A' type free agent, the Angels will receive the Mets' 25th pick in the first round of MLB's 2009 First Year Player Draft, as a supplemental pick.
The New York Post is reporting that Rodriguez could be in New York tomorrow for his physical.