Francisco Rodriguez

Best Free Agents
2. Trevor Hoffman, Brewers closer. He took the chance leaving Southern California (he had an offer to go with the Dodgers) to go for beer and brats, and he hasn't missed a beat. For a bargain $6 million, his 17 saves are only three off the NL lead, and he missed the first three weeks of the season.

3. Francisco Rodriguez, Mets closer. The Mets solved their relief woes by signing one of the very best for $37 million over three years. Worries about him losing his stuff appear wholly unfounded, as he has 20 saves in 22 tries and has allowed just 19 hits in 35 2/3 innings. Plus, he's hit as high as 96 mph on the gun lately. One of only two blown saves came when Luis Castillo dropped a pop fly on the last out.

Jon Heyman - SI.com

Keep your chin up Mets fans

Rodriguez has been good -- real good -- and one blown save doesn't change that. You can still make the argument, as Livan Hernandez did after the game, that he's the "best closer in the game." You could make a case for Jonathan Broxton, you could make a case for Heath Bell, and you can always make a case for Joe Nathan or Mariano Rivera. But through roughly 40 percent of the season, it's difficult to argue against K-Rod -- blown save or not.

Noble Thoughts

A Maine concern?

Allow me to tell you a story. The story takes place at a condo in Connecticut. There's four main characters: Myself, a die hard Yankee fan friend of mine, a die hard Met fan friend of mine, and a fridge full of Coronas. It's Opening Day, rainy, 37 degrees, 1:00 PM EST, and SNY is on the beautiful  HD television as Keith Hernandez, Gary Cohen, and Ron Darling discuss the most recent wave of disappointments that have plagued the Metropolitans and their fans. failing to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and the epic collapses that caused them. I wince a little, as I always do, but it's okay; we've got Coronas. I grab one.

Best pen money could buy

"I think it's very important that the guys we acquired come in and produce right away," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "To get into a close game and perform on Opening Day, I think that says a lot about the guys we acquired." Rodriguez put it bluntly: "The reason J.J. and I and Greenie came here for was to stop those things that happened last year and the year before."

And so they did.

Okay, so when I said that my Last Minute Shuffle would be the last Spot * On blog before the start of the MLB Season, I was lying. So sue me. I've been fascinated with closers for some time now (no, I don't mean Kyra Sedgwick), how people obsess over them, when to draft them, their role both in baseball and in fantasy, and how to utilize them most effectively in general. The polar opposing opinions that exist are stifling, if not fun to read. I want to take a look at a good number of 9th inning men today, as well as who I'm avoiding and targeting for Saves this season; and my picks may surprise you...

Okay, so about a week ago I finally broke the seal and began participation in my first, of what will turn out to be countless, mock draft over at Couchmanagers.com. We left off after the first four rounds had been completed, at which point I had drafted the following players:

1.6 Miguel Cabrera (only 1B eligible)
2.19 Johan Santana
3.30 Aramis Ramirez
4.43 Ichiro Suzuki
* Players all linked in Part I

And so the two weeks draws to a close, appropriately, with a look at the Top 10 Closers. A volatile position at the best of times, 2008 seemed to be the craziest season ever in terms of the amount of closers losing their jobs through injury or bad performance.

Francisco Rodriguez is a great closer, there's no question about that, but there are already a ton of miles on his shoulder, and some teams may be shying away from the guy because of that. At the minimum they would like to drop his value a tad before signing.

So the "drop in velocity" rumors have started making the rounds, so much so that his agent has had to come out and defend the guy, in arguably his greatest season yet.

The Mets are of course the heavy favorite for Rodriguez's services, and their was even a story from a Venezuelan newspaper yesterday, that Francisco Rodriguez wass on his way to New York for a physical exam, in advance of signing a contract with the Mets. But a person within the Mets organization tonight said "it's not true."

Give it a week or two. He will be a Met.

From the streets of Caracas to the Major League summit, Francisco Rodriguez is the new king of saves in a single season, his 58th successful rescue job removing Bobby Thigpen from the record book after an 18-year run.

after much deliberation,[none] I'll predict that the MVP will be Fransisco Rodriguez.

Dustin Pedroia's name will get the most play by the world wide leader of course, and they will host an hour long special on why he didn't win, but Fransisco has earned this hardware.

MVP for Fransisco, and then give the CY young to Cliff Lee, just to toss everybody for a loop.

If you had that on your scorecard in April, you are a liar.

 read more »