Pending a physical, the Mets have made their first major addition of the off-season by signing reliever Jon Rauch to a one year deal. The story of the Mets bullpen has been a committee situation. The Mets don't have the money, or the desire to sign a closer to a long term deal, which honestly makes sense. Instead of going for a budget closer pitcher, they decided to sign two pitchers to fortify the back end of the bullpen.
Part 1 of that occurred tonight as the Mets signed Jon Rauch, also known as the tallest player in baseball (Fun Fact: The Mets also have the shortest player in baseball). Rumor is right now that the contract is for 3.5 million. Assuming the Mets were going to spend 8-10 million on the pen, that leaves 4.5 to 6.5 left, which does sound just about right.
Rauch has saved games as recently as 2010 and 2011. Last year he saved 11 games for the Blue Jays and 2010 he saved 21 games for the Jays. On average you are looking at a pitcher who has an ERA in the upper 3.00 ERA. He is a contact pitcher, which isn't ideal for a set-up closer role, so I hope he gets paired with a Dotel type of pitcher.
Most recently in 2011 he had an ERA of 4.85 which was inflated by allowing 11 homers. Expect that number to drop because he is no longer in the American League, especially the AL East and he is now pitching in a more pitchers friendly park.
(Of course that previous statement doesn't necessarily hold true if the walls moved in at Citi have a really odd impact and if Pujols signs with the Fish.)
