One walk, a fielders choice, two strike outs, four batters faced, 16 pitches, one game finished. One down, 54 more to go.

For those of you that don't know, Francisco Rodriguez needs to finish 55 games this season for his 2012 option to vest. His $17.5M option to vest. His seventeen and a half million dollar option.

Obviously this is a lot of money. What makes it worse is that the team is in a finical crisis. What also makes it worse is that the money they own him could force the Mets to let go one of their best players and a face of the franchise; Jose Reyes.

Terry Collins said that Frankie needed to get his work in and he wasn't thinking about him finishing the game. The manager can't think about the business side of the game. He just has to put the best players out there there give his team the best shot to win.

Of course the Mets would not like this option to vest, and front office should give Collins directions later in the season on what to do with Frankie. But if the Mets are in a playoff race you can't limit your best relief pitcher and potential cost your team a playoff spot.

For now 54 more games seems far away. But it is a number the Mets need to keep track of.

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com relief pitcher Pedro Beato has been informed he has made the team. Heyman also says that relievers Jason Isringhausen, Blaine Boyer & Manny Acosta are still competing for the final bullpen spot. 

Heyman said on Twitter that Brad Emaus will start at 2nd Base, and Daniel Murphy, Scott Hairston, Willie Harris & Chin-Lung Hu have made the team as reserves, meaning that it appears inevitable OF/1B Nick Evans will not be with the team. I'm not too happy about that decision because I've always liked Nick Evans and I was extremely impressed with his .348/.394/.439 line along with 8 runs and 6 doubles. I think it came down to the fact that Nick only had 4 RBIs and had 0 Home Runs, and maybe the team wants to see players with a little more versatility at the plate who don't strike out as often (4 walks, team-high 13 strikeouts). Also, it's tough to compete with veterans who simply just had better spring training numbers than Evans. Scott Hairston had 2 HR & 8 RBIs posting a .353/.421/.608 line.

Willie Harris made a strong statement to make the team with a solid spring, accumulating 3 Home Runs and 10 RBIs, but more importantly to me he drew 11 walks against 6 strikeouts; his line was .280/.410/.560. 

Mets.com Spring Training Statistics

I like most people am glad that Beato made the team. I like his tenacity on the mound and a lot of people are impressed with the potential this kid has out of the bullpen. I wasn't necessarily blown away by his Spring Training performance, but I do think the team made the right choice. 

The race for the final bullpen spot comes down to Isringhausen, Boyer and Acosta. Isringhausen has been bothered with inflamation in his elbow, however is expected to pitch today in a relief appearance for the Mets and this could be the deciding factor as to whether or not he will make the team. Izzy has stated he will not accept a minor league assignment, which leaves me with the impression that he feels if he cannot make the team and part of it is due to the health of his elbow, he will call it a career and ride off into the sunset. However, the fact that the team has not yet released him already leads me to believe he still is the front-runner for the final spot. Statistical comparison of the final 3 relievers vying for a spot:

Adam Rubin reports that Ryota Igarashi was cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo. Since Igarashi is set to make $1.75M in 2011, no team wanted to pick him up, so the Mets were able to get him back, which was expected.

Igarashi was designated for assignment by the Mets to make room on the roster for Taylor Buchholz and Chris Capuano. Igarashi will be fighting for a spot in the Mets bullpen during Spring Training.

Jon Heyman reports that the Yankees have signed free agent relief pitcher Rafael Soriano. The deal is said to be three years, with him making $35M. Heyman also reports, that Soriano can opt out of his contract after the first and second years of the deal.

Soriano came into the league in 2002 and played his first five seasons with the Seattle Mariners. He then went to the Atlanta Braves in 2007 where he was mainly used as a set-up man until his last year there in 2009, when he compiled 27 saves. In 2010 he went to the Tampa Bay Rays and had his best year, with a 1.73 ERA and 45 saves. He was an All-Star for the first time and finished 8th in the AL Cy Young Award voting and 12th in the AL MVP voting.

Soriano well be the Yankees set-up man for Mariano Rivera, but could become the team's closer if he retires within the next three years, which seems highly unlikely.

Soriano becomes the 5th highest paid relief pitcher in baseball, trailing his teammate Rivera, Brad Lidge, Francisco Rodriguez, and Joe Nathan.

This might be the final piece for the Yankees who were focused on adding to their bullpen this offseason. The Yankees bullpen will look something like this come Opening Day.

Rivera – Soriano – Joba Chamberlain – Dave Robertson – Damaso Marte – Pedro Feliciano – Boone Logan

Compare that to the Red Sox's bullpen:

Jonathan Papelbon – Daniel Bard – Boddy Jenks – Scott Atchison – Dan Wheeler – Hideki Okajima – Tim Wakefield

Whose bullpen would you rather have?