Mets can't ignore K-Rod

It has been said the New York Mets will not pursue Francisco Rodriguez this Winter, but if Mets GM Omar Minaya is true to his word, why wouldn’t the organization bid for K-Rod?

“We have a challenge in front of us because there are only a few guys in the game that we call dominant or that can lock out an inning,” Minaya said. “This is an area, for a championship team, that’s very important.”

That short list would include Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Brad Lidge, Jonathan Papelbon and Joe Nathan.

The only name on that list that is available is Rodriguez.

The “challenge” for Minaya will not be one of availability, but of budget. Will the Mets fork out $75 million or more over five years to secure the games best closer in 2008?

Rodriguez’ agent Paul Kinzer has a lot to offer bidders: Rodriguez, 26, was 2-3 with a 2.24 ERA with 62 saves in 69 opportunities in 76 games during the 2008 season. He broke the single-season record for saves by a closer, he has saved 194 games over the past four seasons (no fewer than 40 in a single season) and the Angels have won their division four of the last five years (including a World Series title in 2002, K-Rod’s breakthrough year).

When the post-season ends, K-Rod will close again — on his terms — and, according to Kinzer, $75 million will be the “baseline” with no official bidding ceiling in sight. At those terms only a handful of teams need him that much.

The Mets are one of them, along with the Angels.

“We’ve got to put the team first,” Angels owner Arte Moreno told Newsday in mid-September. “He is homegrown, and he’s been really good here for a long time, and he’s obviously making a run at a record this season. But we need to focus on the whole team.”

Despite the $10.5 million the Mets will shell out for Billy Wagner while he rehabs, the team can look beyond the multi-million deals with Pedro Martinez, Orlando Hernandez and Moises Alou.

If the Mets will fork out $137 million (and four prospects) for Johan Santana, how much would they have been willing to pay for Rodriguez last month?