Not following the Mariners, I didn’t even know he’d lost the closer’s job. But it’d be worth it if he could recapture the kind of stuff he had 2 years ago. That line from 2007 is just ridiculous: 314 ERA+? 0.69 WHIP? I know that’s a career year, but Putz fell a long way last season. That said, he still put together a decent season. If he can cut his walk rate back down, he should be amazing.

Interestingly, b-r lists his closest comp as Huston Street.

IMO.

Who makes Endy look like Raul Ibanez. If not, then I’m not sure. Of course for Endy to be of any value to us our front office and more importantly our manager have to realize how valueable he is, which I’m not sure they do.

The Mets, Mariners and Indians appear to be on the verge of a three-team deal in which J.J. Putz would go to New York as the setup man to the newly acquired Francisco Rodriguez.

The particulars of the deal were still being worked out Wednesday night at the Bellagio, but MLB.com has learned the Mariners would likely receive Indians outfielder Franklin Gutierrez and the Indians would receive Mets right-handed reliever Joe Smith and Mariners infielder Luis Valbuena.

Mets right-hander Aaron Heilman and Mariners outfielder Jeremy Reed are also believed to be involved, though it is unclear who is headed where.

Here’s what Ryan Divish who covers Seattle says:

It’s reported

Mariners get — OF Franklin Gutierrez from Cleveland and Aaron Heilman from NY.

Indians get — IF Luis Valbuena from the Mariners and reliever Joe Smith from the Mets.

Mets get — Putz and Jeremy Reed

Just left our meeting with Mariners general manger Jack Zduriencik and it appears as though a deal for closer J.J. Putz could happen sometime in the coming days and possibly tonight.

When asked if a proposal on the table, Zduriencik said. "Yes, there is something to think about in detail."

I’m not sure where Jeremy Reed fits in with us.

Omar should’ve just gone after Wood and have been done with it.

If what’s reported is true (it’s likely not), then that is one hell of a load to give away for a hurt reliever. We better not be trading Joe Smith and Heilman to land Putz, all the while downgrading from Endy to Reed. That’s ridiculous.

* The Mets will get J.J. Putz, OF Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green;
    * The Mariners will get Aaron Heilman, OF Endy Chavez, 1B Mike Carp and OF Franklin Gutierrez, plus minor leaguers from the Indians;
    * The Indians will get RHP Joe Smith and infielder Luis Valbuena.

another sean green like i need a whole in the head

But I don’t think I like it that much other. Even though we got Reed and Green it basically seems like all those players for putz.

just checked out Cot’s Contracts, 5 million this year, option for 8.6 next year…why don’t we just sign Cruz again?

does Omar know the location of the Delgado rejuvenation fountain?

Probably not Evans or Martinez. Probably not Parnell or Kunz. Not Havens, Davis or Holt…

says she’s a done deal:

The Mariners receive right-handed pitcher Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez and first baseman Mike Carp from the Mets, along with outfielder Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians.

Putz, becomes the eighth-inning setup man for new Mets closer Frankie Rodriguez. Second baseman Luis Valbuena will go the Indians, who also get right-handed pitcher Joe Smith from the Mets in the deal.

Mariners right-handed reliever Sean Green and center fielder Jeremy Reed also are going to the Mets in the trade.

so long and thanks for all the fish

So how bad was it? I only vaguely remember hearing he was injured, but don’t recall anything about it. Can we expect him to be recovered by the spring?

I still don’t know for sure how I feel about it.

usually i can make rash judgments on a trade right away, rant and rave about it then get talked down. this trade I’m just confused. Someone needs to form an opinion for me.

No more AC/DC at M’s games anymore now =(
My heart has been thunderstruck….

Now we have one EXTRA hole to fill in the pen.
I was really hoping Heilman would be able to be a starter this year.

from b-r:

2006: 32 INN, 34 H, 15 K, 13 BB, 98 ERA+, 1.47 WHIP
2007: 68 INN, 77 H, 53 K, 34 BB, 113 ERA+, 1.63 WHIP
2008: 79 INN, 80 H, 62 K, 36 BB, 90 ERA+, 1.46 WHIP

And he turns 29 in April. Not exactly falling in love with the guy already.

looks like Omar beat out the Tigres who were favored to land the Putz

Is there any chance at all that Wagner has a miraculous recovery and can come back next season for September/October? I remember that there was a pitcher who recently went through similar surgery and came back way ahead of schedule… maybe I’m thinking of Gallardo’s ACL surgery.

Heilman could of been a decent #5 slot starter. Watch, he will start for the mariners and will probably be somewhat successful. I’m also really disappointed that we lost sidearm Smitti, he was a pretty good reliever. So essentially we trade a generally good reliever (heilman) for putz. Both had bad years. And we swap Endy “amazin catch” Chavez for a not as good defender (Reed) and we get green for smith. To me, i would have rather kept our guys and signed lyon, hoffman and maybe another (perhaps ayala?)

It may be (is) a good trade for the Mets, but I refuse to back a trade that involves Endy. My heart beats my head here.

http://hotstove.mlblogs.com/

We give up Jason Vargas and two minor leaguers I have never heard of.

Is the media going to flip out over the fact that this was done late at night like they did with Willie’s firing?

I love this trade. Putz missed a chunk of the season from June 11 – July 20. Check out his numbers after he got back:

27 G, 27.1 IP, 25 H, 11 BB, 33 K, 3 HR, 2.96 ERA, 1.32 WHIP

They’re not off the chart numbers, but he would have been the best reliever in our bullpen during that stretch, and he was coming off an injury. If he gets back to anything approaching his ’07 numbers (or even just his ’06 numbers) this trade will be a steal.

I don’t like to see Endy go, but how valuable was he really for us? His defense is fantastic, but his OPS+ has gone from 101 to 84 to 69. He’s just not a very good hitter, and he’s not gonna make up for it with his defense in the few innings he’d be getting out there (admit it, it’s infuriating to see him pinch hit for a pitcher and then not get double switched into the field).

So it seems more like a lot of players for Putz and maybe Reed? I don’t think it’s a bad deal but it does seem like a lot of useful parts to give up when there were so many relievers available in the market.

i can’t process this right now. i hope some smart baseball writer types can figure this out so i can waste a bunch of time reading about it tomorrow. as of now, sorry to see some of my favorite Mets go but, Putz, yeah, i can work with that.

Just kidding.

out of all those players we gave up, only joe smith really contributed anything useful to the team. it sucks to lose endy, and i still had some faith in heilman, but i think it’s worth it for someone like putz who can be so dominant.

ok omar, sign sheets and dunn and then you can take a vacation until feburary.

thinks we’re the winners:

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/mets_acquired_putz/

From ESPN.com via Metsblog.com:

"His agent, Craig Landis, said Putz wants to remain a closer.

“He’s one of the top five or 10 closers in the game,” Landis said. “No, he would not want to be a set-up man.”

… I like this trade. Endy has been a great Met but a bench OF with absolutely no offense is a luxury we had to give up in order to address one of the main problems.

and i definitely like the deal.

We gave up a lot of players but we ended up with, by far, the most valuable player in the trade, and that usually means we came out on top, especially with ‘win now’ strategy. Putz is pretty all right, I think we will all enjoy having him and frank-rod in the pen a whole bunch.

I will, however, miss the guys we gave up. Of all our prospects, i think i may have been most anxious to see Carp in the majors taking over at 1st. Realistically, he is probably never going to make it. additionally vargas, carrera and cleto are not worth losing sleep over. they are pretty much throw-aways you include to get the deal done.

heilman (who i still liked, tight pants and all) and joe smith still had plenty of use in the bullpen, but getting putz and green easily outweighs their loss.

that leaves endy. who here doesn’t love endy? his bat totally blows but his glove is other worldly. and thats where endy’s value comes from. you dont use him as a starter, or a 4th outfielder, you use him as a late inning defensive replacement. hes the positional equivalent to a closer. you leverage the situation and give up an at-bat or so (though he also has great speed for pinch running use), to get the most use out of his glove. i think if anything endy is being under valued in this trade and he is definitely who we are going to miss most when all is said and done, both in value and for sentimental reasons.

and this reed guy looks like a turd, i dont see him ever contributing anything, but we’ll see i guess.

that said, our bullpen hasnt been dominant since 2006 and was a major concern for the team and now omar, in short time has gone out and gotten two A closers and only given up 2 draft picks, 4 scrubs, average middle relievers and a 4th outfielder. i think we should all be pretty pleased with this offseason so far. now lets see if we can improve on left feild, catcher and second base.