According to Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports, the Reds have signed free-agent lefty Jeremy Affeldt to a 1 year $3 million deal. 

Wow, what a bargain. Earlier reports had him seeking a 4 year deal, with many multi-year options on the table, but this seems like a great move by the Reds.

At Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal has a new column up filling us in on the latest buzz.

According to Rosenthal, free agent reliever Jeremy Affeldt has told teams that he already has a four year offer on the table.

Jeez, I really like Affeldt but as we’ve seen going long term on these relievers is a huge mistake. 

Also, he writes:

The Mets passed on Pirates reliever Salomon Torres in part because they believed he was too comfortable playing for a losing team in Pittsburgh. Maybe they were right; Torres threatened to retire upon being traded to the Brewers. The Pirates’ Damaso Marte, a left-handed reliever, also appeals to the Mets, but not at the current price.

I like Marte, but it really depends on what the price is and according to Rosenthal right now thats too high. 

Not particularly disapointed we missed out on Torres, who had a 5.47 ERA last year, and he’ll be 36 to start next season too.

Buster Olney, on his ESPN blog, gives a list of 10 free agents who could be good value signings.

Tony Clark, Matt Clement, David Eckstein, Kenny Lofton, Mike Lamb, Reggie Sanders, Jeremy Affeldt, Kris Benson, Shannon Stewart, and David Wells are the players that Olney believes could be the best bang for any team’s buck.

Olney thinks Tony Clark could fit on the Mets as a bench player. He also points out that Clark has the third highest home run rate, behind Alex Rodriguez and, wait for it…Ramon Castro. Clark had a .563 slugging percentage in 32 at-bats last season.

The Mets have been reported to have some interest in David Eckstein,  whose batting average in each of his last three seasons is .294, .292 and .309.

Affeldt might be a good pick up for the Mets, who need to upgrade their bullpen. Right-handers hit .211 against him last season, left-handers .250.

Cavaet emptor.

Those two words should be heeded by many teams who are looking to dip their toes in the free agency market to upgrade their relief corps, the Mets in particular. Bullpen arms are rarely consistant from year to year. There are few players who pitch out of the bullpen that are able to duplicate their success year after year.

Danys Baez, Arthur Rhodes, Kyle Farnsworth, Tom Gordon and Hector Carrasco were highly sought when they performed at a high level one year only to crash and burn the next. This year the market is flush with names such as Scott Linebrink, Jeremy Affeldt, Ron Mahay, Eric Gagne and Francisco Cordero who will all draw interest.

On SI.com, Tom Verducci, warns that free agent relief shopping is dangerous, and gets San Diego GM Kevin Towers to offer some suggestions on how to navigate the waters. Last season, Towers acquired Cla Meredith, Doug Brocail, Heath Bell, Kevin Cameron and Justin Hampson at the combined talent cost of Jon Atkins, Ben Johnson and Doug Mirabelli and had arguably one of the best bullpens in baseball.

His advice is to target failing starters who throw strikes and convert them into relievers (hello, Mike Pelfrey, is that you?), don’t just throw anyone into the set up role in the 8th inning (hello, Willie Randolph, are you listening?), look for pitchers with deception in their delivery, and stay away from the top end of the free agent relief market.

Verducci’s article is a must read as I feel that this is one of the biggest issues the Mets must tackle this off-season.