LAS VEGAS – The Mets were on the brink last night of closing their most important game of the offseason – landing closer Francisco Rodriguez.

Rodriguez’s agent, Paul Kinzer, said, “I am more optimistic than I have ever been” about finalizing a deal between the single-season save leader and the Mets.

Kinzer would not divulge terms of the deal, except to indicate that it would be longer than the two-year with a vesting option that the Mets used as an opening salvo in negotiations. However, it is going to be well south of the five-year, $75 million mark that Kinzer was shooting for initially in this offseason. That would have been a record for a closer. But those dreams came before the nation’s economy tanked and began to seriously impact baseball, as well.

Kinzer indicated that a deal could get done before these Winter Meetings end Thursday. He said, “we will know more in the next 24 hours, but so far everything has been positive.”