Mets sign reliever Brandon Lyon
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It’s not Michael Bourn, but the Mets did come to an agreement with a free agent Thursday morning.
According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the team has come to an agreement with Brandon Lyon. It is still pending a physical. Lyon, 33, has spent time variably between closing and in a set-up role for five different teams.
Lyon pitched well in as a set-up man for both Houston and Toronto last season. Between the two teams he had a 3.88 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 61 innings pitched. Lyon had 26 saves with the Diamondbacks in 2008 and 20 saves with the Astros in 2010. He has a career ERA of 4.14, but it’s 3.59 over the past six seasons and he has a 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio over that time.
Lyon will likely serve as a set-up man for Frank Francisco, who manager Terry Collins confirmed yesterday will begin the season as closer.
On the Bourn front, the Mets are still interested in signing the 30-year-old center fielder. The Daily News reported Thursday morning that an independent arbiter will have to rule whether the Mets must surrender their No.11 pick in the 2013 draft to sign Bourn. For top-tier free agents, unless a pick is in the Top 10 of the draft a team must surrender their pick to the team which lost the free agent. The Mets hope the arbiter would rule they can keep that No. 11 pick if they sign Bourn because they were only bumped out of the Top 10 by the Pirates receiving a pick due to not being able to sign last year’s first-round pick.
The Mets have reportedly not begun the process to put the ruling before an arbiter.
Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports.
