Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, says the Mets are among four teams “keeping tabs” on LHP Jeff Francis.

Francis, 31, went 6-16 with a 4.82 ERA 183 innings over 31 starts for the Royals last season. He allowed 224 hits while issuing 39 walks and striking out 91. It was the first time he had made more than 30 starts in a season since 2007, when he went 17-9 and a 4.22 ERA with the Rockies.

Francis is a contact pitcher and was homer-prone when he pitched for the Rockies.

Sandy Alderson recently indicated that he was finished making any significant additions and earlier this month said not to expect anyone in excess of $1.5 million dollars. Considering that Francis will sign for far more than that, and it’s very unlikely he would sign a minor-league deal which is all the Mets could offer him for now, I’m not sure there’s anything here.

I would expect Francis to sign a deal worth $3-4 million dollars, possibly loaded with more incentives.

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