Ken Rosenthal on Fox Sports reports that the Cincinnati Reds are in serious talks with free-agent closer Francisco Cordero, citing ‘major-league sources’.

The Reds are among three teams, including the Brewers and one other unidentified team whom Cordero is talking to.

The Brewers are on the verge of losing both Scott Linebrink to the White Sox and now Cordero to the Reds.

The Brewers had reportedly offered Cordero a four-year, $42 million contract.

Cordero converted 44 out of 51 save attempts for the Brewers with a 2.98 ERA and struck out 86 in 63 1/3 innings.

According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, free agent reliever Scott Linebrink is on the verge of signing a four-year contract with the Chicago White Sox. A report on Wednesday night from ESPN 1000 in Chicago, says the two sides agreed on a $19 million deal.

I expected roughly just over $5 million a year over three years for Linebrink. Looks like he took the extra year for $4.75 million a year.

The importance of middle relievers in baseball has increased in recent years, as the trend of starting pitchers failing to go deep into ballgames continues. The Hardball Times provides a graph of the decline in the number of innings pitched by starters over the past hundred years.

With this increased importance, comes a price. In the New York Times, Murray Chase points out that relievers had an average salary of $1,433,992 in 2006 up from $1,316,384 in 2005.

The Mets currently have Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey tentatively penciled into their rotation for 2008, with a fifth pitcher likely to come from free agency or via trade this winter. The uncertainty of the Mets rotation makes the need a quality bullpen even greater. The inconsistency of the Mets rotation last season caused the Mets starters to fail to get deep into ballgames, and put a great degree of pressure on an overworked Mets bullpen.

The Mets enter 2008 with a bullpen consisting of Billy Wagner, Scott Schoeneweis, Duaner Sanchez, Jorge Sosa, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, Juan Padilla and possibly Orlando Hernandez.

The Mets will likely use Aaron Heilman as a trading chip to acquire a front line starter.

As we scan the free agent landscape this off season, there are quite a few quality arms available to upgrade with. Two big name closers are on the market, Francisco Cordero and Eric Gange, but will want to close so would be of no use to the Mets.

Ron Mahay, Jeremy Affledt, David Riske, LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Linebrink, Octavio Dotel, and Byung-Hyun Kim are some of the other arms who might be worth a look as middle relievers. Chad Cordero is a longshot, as the Nationals have asked for Carlos Gomez in return and Cordero is also likely to perfer a closing role.

Mahay was 3-0 last year, with a 2.55 ERA and 1.33 WHIP over 67 innings for the Braves. He is considered the best of the middle relievers on the market and has attracted the Yankees interest.

David Riske was 1-4 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over 69.7 innings for the Royals. Riske hasn’t had an ERA over 4 since 2002.

Matthew Cerrone on Mets Blog relays information from Mike Pagliarulo who advises the Yankees, who Mark Feinsand of the Daily News said has interest, to steer clear of Linebrink, whose stats indicate a ‘structural decline.’

Octavio Dotel was traded to the Braves from Kansas City at the trade deadline and compiled a 4.11 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP. He spent time on the disabled list with a shoulder strain in August.

The Orioles could look to move Chad Bradford, who is signed to a three year, $10.5 million contract. He compiled a 3.34 ERA with a 1.43 WHIP.

Here’s a rundown of Hot Stove news this afternoon…

Tom Haudricourt at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Brewers GM Doug Melvin is being pro-active in upgrading his bullpen whether or not closer Francisco Cordero decides to return to the club.

Among the eight or nine relievers Melvin is targeting are Matt Herges, LaTroy Hawkins and Ron Mahay.

Herges was  5-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 35 relief appearances last season. Hawkins had a 3.42 ERA in 62 outings.

Mahay went 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in 58 appearances.

Melvin hasn’t put in a bid yet for Scott Linebrink. 

Haudricourt names David Riske as someone worth looking into. Riske had a big year for Kansas City, posting a 2.45 ERA in 65 appearances.

San Diego Padres reliever Scott Linebrink has not been contacted by New York GM Omar Minaya according to agent Joe Sambito, reports the New York Daily News.

Sambito said there has been “no communication’ between the Mets and Linebrink.

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.

The clock strikes the witching hour and the deadline for teams to have exclusive negotiating rights has passed. The big deal last night was Jorge Posada returning to the Yankees with a 4 year, $52.4 million deal. Lets look at some of the players who are expected to reach the open market today.

• The Mets are not expected to make offers to Paul Lo Duca and Luis Castillo until they have a chance to look at other options such as Yorvit Torrealba, Jason Kendall, Orlando Hudson and David Eckstein.
• The Palm Beach Post reports that the Marlins are looking to upgrade over Miguel Olivo, and may join the Mets in kicking the tires on Lo Duca and Torrealba as well.
• The Red Sox were unable to reach an agreement with Mike Lowell before the deadline. They reportedly offered a three year deal. What happens with Lowell now will have implications on where Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera will land. The Dodgers, Angels, Yankees and Phillies have all expressed interest in Lowell.
• The Twins do not seem optimistic they can resign Torii Hunter. The Twins will have some tough decisions to make if Hunter leaves, including if they can afford to trade Johan Santana on top of losing Hunter and not have Twins fans marching in the streets looking for new GM Bill Smith’s head. The White Sox, Rangers, Nationals, Royals, Braves and Dodgers are believed to be interested in Hunter’s services.
• The most prized member of a weak free agent market for pitchers, Carlos Silva, is unlikely to receive an offer from the Twins and will likely be pursued by the Mets, Phillies, Angels, Royals, Tigers and Mariners.
• A number of relievers will hit the open market, barring some midnight madness. Scott Linebrink, Jeremy Affeldt, Ron Mahay, Eric Gagne and Francisco Cordero among the most notable names on the list.
• The Yankees have reportedly offered Mariano Rivera a three year, $40 million deal. At this time it appears that Rivera will be hitting the open market and is likely to be one of the most sought after free agents available. The Phillies were once thought to be interested in Rivera but with the addition of Brad Lidge that seems to be dead issue.