10:15 p.m. EST update: Gulp. FOXSports.com’s Jon Paul Morosi states that the deal is worth $12 million over two years. Apparently, the Mets didn’t get the note that there are more closers available than teams needing them.
10:10 p.m. EST update: Jon Heyman confirms the original report from Newsday’s Ken Davidoff. No word on terms yet, though $4 million per season is a pretty good guess.
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Who knew the Mets would suddenly turn into the busiest team of the winter meetings?
The team has rebuilt its bullpen on the fly tonight, inking Frank Francisco to a two-year deal mere minutes after signing Jon Rauch for one year and picking up Ramon Ramirez in a swap of center fielders Angel Pagan and Andres Torres.
Francisco almost certainly will be the closer in the group, with Rauch, Ramirez and Bobby Parnell battling for seventh- and eighth-inning duties.
Francisco, 32, had a 3.55 ERA and 17 saves in 21 chances for the Blue Jays last season. Talented but injury-prone, he’s thrown 60 innings just once since debuting with the Rangers in 2004. He has, however, struck out 368 batters in 334 career innings and posted a sub-4.00 ERA four straight seasons.
