The Mets couldn’t have picked a better time to be in the market for a closer. We haven’t heard any rumors about the Mets making an offer to anyone yet. So we know they’re not immediately jumping into the fire after any of the available free agents.

Hoffman could be a good one year stop-gap until Eddie Kunz is ready to take over the reigns as the closer. Sure, he’ll be 41 years old this year. And his fastball is topping out in the mid to high 80’s now. But he’s still got the great change up. And he’s not far removed from some excellent seasons.

Last season Hoffman had 32 saves with a 3.77 ERA and 1.037 WHIP. Not bad for an old man. The Mets would’ve killed to have someone like that last season after Billy Wagner went down. In 2006, Hoffman had 46 saves and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting and tenth in the NL MVP voting.

I’d rather have Hoffman for one season than Fuentes for three and K-Rod for four or five. The way relief pitchers are up and down from season to season, you just can’t trust them to be consistent over any great length of time.

Omar Minaya should really think about getting into a short-term deal with Hoffman. Not to mention the fact that his price tag will be significantly lower than the other free agents. And the Mets are still on the hook for Billy Wagner’s $10.5 million salary in 2009. It’s not my money that they’re spending but I’d rather see the resources applied across the multiple potential openings in the bullpen, left field, and rotation than to one “great” closer.

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Alicea has done some managing in the minors for the Red Sox and I can’t help but wonder why Terry Francona let him go. I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.

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The word in the press is that the Yankees already offered Sabathia 6-years/$140 million. And I’m sure the Yankees will go as high as it takes to get Sabathia.

The Mets going after Sabathia never made sense from the beginning. With holes in the outfield, bullpen, and rotation, there’s no room for another $100 million contract on this team.

It’s a nice dream to think of Johan Santana and Sabathia pitching back-to-back days all season, but it’s not happening.

There aren’t any secrets about what the Mets need. And Jon Heyman of SI does a nice job of ranking the available players in his column and projects potential contracts for many of the players. Heyman always does a nice job with the baseball scuttlebutt and it’s rumored that he’s a sounding board for “anonymous” Mets front office personnel in the form of Jeff Wilpon.

CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, and Francisco Rodriguez highlight the list of free agents this off-season. But there are plenty of good, if not great, players out on the market right now and that doesn’t even include the players being offered up as trade bait like Matt Holliday.

Check out Heyman’s column here.

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Joel Sherman

Jon Heyman

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Willie Randolph landed a job in Milwaukee as Ken Macha’s bench coach. That’s a good move for Randolph, as a stop-gap job while he waits out a managerial opening. From ESPN:

“We are very pleased to add Willie to the organization as he brings recent National League expertise and success to our coaching staff,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “His reputation as a player is a quality that will be valuable in his teaching and coaching of our talented young team. Willie is a professional both on and off the field.”

The Brewers may end up being in the playoff hunt again next season. It’ll be a lot more difficult without CC Sabathia. But working the bench for a successful team will keep Randolph on the radar of teams looking to make a managerial change during the season.

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