Review: Last Night’s Trade for J.J. Putz
In a critique of the trade on ESPN.com, Keith Law writes:
“If the Mets get the healthy J.J. Putz - he missed time with rib and elbow injuries in 2008 - they might actually have acquired the best closer of their offseason, one even better than their new closer Francisco Rodriguez.”
According to Law, Putz pitches at 92-95 mph; his fastball has good life, but it plays up because he pairs it with a plus splitter with a hard, late bottom; he pounds the strike 
zone - he walked fewer batters in 2006 and 2007 combined than K-Rod has thrown in any single season of his career.
In other words, Law says, “Putz is exactly what you want in a late-game reliever, and his presence on the roster means that the Mets can cope with K-Rod’s one-inning maximum and can avoid using him on too many consecutive days.”
Law describes Jeremy Reed, who the Mets also acquired in last night’s trade, as, ‘a defensive specialist who makes a lot of contact but lacks power or patience,’ while describing reliever Sean Green as, ‘a right-handed ground-ball machine.’
For more on the players who the Mets gave up, read Law’s report.
…i am not sure you cannot like this deal for the Mets…
…in short, they traded heilman, three prospects and Jason Vargas for putz, who is the best player in the deal…
…to me, vargas was useless, because some one will always get a shot in Citi Field before he will, and his value in any other trade was minimal; carp had no future with the Mets, and, from what i can gather, was pushing his ceiling in terms of value; heilman, who i wish the best of luck, needed to go; and the outfield prospect is an outfield prospect, of which i personally do not put much stock…
…to me, the guy i hate to see go is 19–year-old pitcher Maikel Cleto, whose stock had been rising all season…but, if the deal is one day judged as cleto for putz, as i believe it will, i can live with that given the major-league team’s immediate needs…
….additionally, they swapped reed for Endy Chavez, who was a favorite of Willie Randolph’s, but who got little play from Jerry Manuel…and they swap smith, who was good and bad at times, for green, who law calls, ‘a ground-ball machine,’ which is exactly what you want from a mid-inning, middle reliever…
…more importantly, minaya took a sledge-hammer to the bullpen, and, based on the last two seasons, how can you blame him…
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