OVERHAUL UNDERWAY

Quite an eventful winter meetings for the Mets. Clearly, the bullpen needed to be re-worked, and that's what the Mets did.

Gone are Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Billy Wagner (though he'll still be paid...a LOT of money), and now Scott Schoeneweis. Even Endy Chavez off the bench.

In are Francisco Rodriguez*, J.J. Putz, Sean Green, and now Connor Robertson. Even Jeremy Reed on the bench.

It's a good shakeup. As they stood, the Mets were not built to win - obvious the past two seasons, when not enough was done to shake things up between 2007 and 2008.

But there's still work to be done. Now the Mets have to address the starting rotation. I'm a little envious of what the Yankees have done - they played the initial game, too - getting C.C. and A.J. (The Mets only landed J. J.) I would have loved Burnett as a Met. I have no idea which direction the Mets will go - but I'm kind of hoping the Mets don't go for the 'big-name' starter (Derek Lowe) and go more towards the middle...I'm just not sure Lowe's the guy.

I like the direction the Mets are going this off-season...though I'm not going to go overboard until the Mets make it through September intact.

I'm just afraid now that with all the addressing of the bullpen needs the Mets have done this off-season they haven't left themselves with a 2009 rotation that will remind us of the 2008 bullpen.

THE SOUTHERN BUREAU WOULD WANT ME TO MENTION THIS: News out of Atlanta is that the Braves will not offer a 2009 contract to Chuck James, who will miss the season recovering from shoulder surgery.

AND YOU THOUGHT THERE WAS A PUTZ IN THE METS BULLPEN LAST YEAR

So the Mets should be coming out of the winter meetings looking pretty good.

They got a closer. And after they did that, I thought to myself, they should still try to get someone else, like Brian Fuentes, because you can never have enough arms in the bullpen.

And they made a trade to get J.J. Putz. Which isn't bad. Another closer-type who will become a set-up guy. And they unloaded Aaron Heilman, who no one could possibly have anymore confidence in, not to mention he was unhappy. They also lost Endy Chavez and Joe Smith, but got back formerly-highly-rated outfielder Jeremy Reed. (Might be a bust, but if he's filling a bench role, he might be OK.)

But none of these moves mean anything until the Mets get into the post-season.

You would also think they're in great shape because Cole Hamels went on New York radio today and called the Mets "choke artists". You would think that's the type of thing that would fire the Mets up.

But he's not wrong until the Mets unseat the now-World Champion team Cole Hamels plays for.

And Francisco Rodriguez and J. J. Putz might help with that. But we won't know until the games happen.

METS SIGN K-ROD

So, what tragic ending to his career will befall Francisco Rodriguez? Will it be:
1) A career-ending arm injury?
2) From record-setting greatness to record-setting pitifulness?
3) Premature oldness?

That last one I feel I need to explain a bit. He's just 26 years old, but I feel like there's been a lot of wear and tear on that 26-year-old arm.

I am nowhere near as enthusiastic about this signing as I should be. The Mets could have signed an explosive closer, who will slam the door of every game he'll appear in. Francisco Rodriguez could be the Mets' answer to Brad Lidge of the Phillies - just a perfect season in store.

But this is the Mets, signing a free agent, and a closer no less. Things just don't work out that way for them. So K-Rod gets the *. And it will take a lot of convincing for me to ever get rid of it.