Over the last few days, the Tampa Bay Rays have basically conceded any chances of the team competing in the near future after designating Corey Dickerson for assignment while also trading Jake Odorizzi and Steven Souza Jr. On top of it, they also traded former-franchise cornerstone Evan Longoria to the Giants earlier in the offseason.

So if the Rays are planning on dismantling the team this season, maybe it would make some sense for the Mets to reach out and see what it would take to pry Alex Colome.

The right-handed closer is making only $5.3 million and is under control through 2021.

The 29-year old recorded a career-high 47 saves this past season with a 3.24 ERA, 1.200 WHIP, 3.37 FIP, and 58 strikeouts in 66.2 innings.

For his career, he has 84 saves to go along with a 3.14 ERA, 1.221 WHIP, and 3.37 FIP since he came up in 2013. He initially was a starter before transitioning to the pen in 2015.

While the Mets did improve the bullpen this winter by acquiring Anthony Swarzak, it would not hurt them, or really any other team, to add a bullpen arm of Colome’s caliber.

If the Mets were able to trade for Colome, they could have a back-end of the pen that includes him, Swarzak, Jerry Blevins, AJ Ramos, and Jeurys Familia.

That bullpen would be a force to be reckoned with and would challenge the New York Yankees for the best in baseball.

The game would essentially be shut down after the sixth inning and would alleviate a lot of the pressure from the starting rotation.

How likely is it that this can happen?

Not likely, in all honesty, but considering the fact nobody would have expected Dickerson to be DFA’d, anything really appears possible in Tampa Bay.

It would likely take a decent haul to get the closer, but it might not require any blue-chip pieces if they are truly in full-tear down mode.

If the Mets could make a trade for Colome without surrendering Dominic Smith, Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez, or any projected starting player on the active roster, the Mets might need to strongly consider it.

For example, if the Rays wanted Zack Wheeler, Luis Guillorme, and Tomas Nido, the team would have to at least consider making that deal. I am not saying that gets Colome in a Mets uniform, but if it could, the Mets would have to make that deal.

Adding a reliever like Colome, as mentioned before, vaults their bullpen into the elite category and in a game where the bullpen is proving to be extremely important, the Mets could shorten the game and vault themselves to the top of the division and among the elite in the NL.