"Francisco Rodriguez may be setting up for the Brewers, but he hasn't given up closing.

Nor, shockingly, has he ruled out pitching again for the Mets.

"I understand this is a business," Rodriguez said. "They did what they needed to do and feel what they need to early in the year to trade me, [but] the door is still open. I'm not the type of person that is going to burn bridges and say, 'No, I'm not coming to this place because they traded me' or whatever.

"I'm open-minded and open to come here to New York once again in the future."

Rodriguez made headlines last August when he punched the grandfather of his children inside the family room at Citi Field and tore thumb ligaments that forced him to miss the remainder of the season. He was fined, suspended and ordered to undergo anger management counseling. Rodriguez said yesterday he expected he might get traded by the Mets, but thought it would be closer to the July 31 non-waiver deadline than it proved to be.

Rodriguez held court in the visitors' dugout at Citi Field last night before the Brewers' 6-1 victory -- his first game against the Mets since being traded to Milwaukee minutes after the end of last month's All-Star Game. He said he did not blame the Mets for not being able to come to an agreement with his representative about eliminating his $17.5 million vesting option.

"Both sides tried to do it," Rodriguez said of the option that would have kicked in for 2012 if he finished 55 games this season and which the Brewers paid him $500,000 to get rid of, making him a free agent at the end of this season. "Unfortunately, we didn't get it done. I felt it was becoming a distraction."

And Rodriguez, who saved 83 games in his 2½ seasons with the Mets, including 23 this season before the trade, had some advice for the Mets and his potential replacement, Bobby Parnell."