Major League Baseball

Report: Niese, Mets agree to $25.5M deal

Published Apr. 4, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Jonathon Niese can afford his own nose jobs in the future.

In the Mets' first major move since resolving the lawsuit by the trustee in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, the team agreed with Niese on a $25.5 million, five-year contract, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal had not yet been announced. The contract includes club options for 2017 at $10 million and 2018 at $10.5 million.

The deal came a day before the Mets' opener against Atlanta at Citi Field.

All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltran, then with the Mets, offered last summer to pay for Niese to have surgery to correct a deviated septum. Niese had the operation in October and said last month that he's been breathing easier now that the right nostril no is longer blocked. Niese said Beltran had paid the $10,000 bill.

A 25-year-old left-hander, Niese was 11-11 with a 4.40 ERA last season. He had agreed in March to a one-year contract paying $519,550 in the major leagues and would have been eligible for salary arbitration after the season.

The Mets' ownership last month settled the lawsuit filed by trustee Irving Picard, agreeing to pay up to $162 million, a fraction of the $1 billion Picard originally demanded from Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and their family and affiliates.

New York repaid loans of $25 million to Major League Baseball and $40 million to Bank of America, and have closed on the sales of 12 limited partner shares for $20 million each.

NOTES: The Mets set their opening-day roster by selecting the contracts of RHP Miguel Batista and OF Mike Baxter from Triple-A Buffalo. They put RHPs Pedro Beato and D.J. Carrasco on the 15-day DL, retroactive to March 26, sent RHP Armando Rodriguez outright to Double-A Binghamton and said RHP Josh Stinson was claimed by Milwaukee.

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