The Associated Press relays a story about how J.J. Putz said “I’m hearing I’m going to get traded”, a month ago.
Mariners GM, Jack Zduriencik, is quoted as saying:
“I talked to J.J. (Wednesday). And what I told him was: ‘J.J., I can’t control other clubs calling me and expressing individual desire for you. You know, clubs that are in a pennant race are always going to desire to have a strong bullpen. That’s the case here.”
“I think he should be honored and flattered that they pursued him as hard as they did.”
…i wouldn’t misconstrue this as him being unhappy with the trade, that issue was clarified already…
…i’m yet to chime in on this but i didn’t see this trade coming at all…at first it confused me, but as long as all the parties involved, primarily putz, are happy, so am i…great trade overall…
Also, in the Detroit Free Press, John Paul Morisi outlines how the Detroit Tigers came close to trading for Putz before the deal fell through at the last minute.
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you can argue he’s got better stuff the k-rod, as long as we’re winning i’m sure he’ll be happy, i just hope he can do for us as a set up man what lidge did to the phillies as a closer..
I’d rather be part of a winning team if my salary doesn’t change and i’m still getting action on the mound. closer position is misconstrued.
I have to believe that Detroit is uber concerned about the economy, because they clearly want to keep cheap, controllable players more than they wanted to add Putz and his relative cheapness (as a closer) despite their 2008 being very similar to that of the Mets (in terms of high payroll, underachievement and bullpen failure).
i know i don’t want him but peavy now can be an option for us.. we can ive them a package surrounded by f-mart and then i’ll be nice with marquis as the 5th starter
GravediggerHebner:
It makes sense that Detroit is concerned, considering the state of the big 3 auto companies…They provide a major percentage of jobs in Detroit, and with the current economy (not to mention the failed bailout), there is every possibility that they will cut even more jobs, and as a result Tigers fans will have much less money to spend on baseball. The Tigers will have to be able to field a team that is both competitive and relatively inexpensive.
peavy would be great, yes, but it’s a pipe dream
obtaining him would decimate our farm system
i wouldn’t mind trading for marquis, signing ollie, signing guardado and/or getting manny
ravi3
agreed, and in the short term that’s going to be hard for them due to their recent trades and signings. Their payroll was $137,685,196 in ‘08.
u never know, we can also trade delgado, grab a cheap 1b and get manny.. while grabing peavy, also guys, year after year players develop in the minors and we don’t know for sure which player who had a bad minor league year can come up and step up, i mean look at evans and murphy, how many thought they were gonna be this good for us down the strech..
alex, no.
Adam Dunn should be our man in left, unless Manny’s demands drop.
Speaking of Detroit. I wonder what they would be willing to dump? Maybe Carlos Gullien? Ordnez?
Wow, I wonder if he coukld sense a mets World Series in 2009.? We should ask him.
Adam Dunn is a clod with the glove in left field, but so are Tatis and Murphy who makes every flyball and adventure.
I’ll take Dunn’s offense over that platoon anyday.
Murphy and Evans in LF. Go with youth!
I wanted to correct my spelling on could*, and my grammar on “an adventure’, before the grammar police got me.
Deaner
I think it depends on how one defines “decimate our farm system.”
My biggest complaint about the Met farm system is that it has not provided (overall, to the entire major leagues) lots of major league players. The system is by many reports “bottom heavy” meaning to me that any future viable major leaguers are years away, and that whether they arrive at all is at best debatable.
Why not trade some of that “heavy bottom” for some current viable major league production?
why some of you want the mets to get marquis? he is horrible, I rather give a chance to parnell or niese. we need to sign ollie and sheets/lowe. yes ollie is inconsistent but he is better than marquis and can be a dominat pitcher when he is on.
Yeah lets go with youth, that solves everything.
Lets see we can go with Evans at first and bench Delgado, Argenis Reyes at second, and we’ll play the younger Angel Pagan in right.
Damn … I think we’re screwed behind the plate though…
Alex your trade delgado proposals in every single post from Matt is really getting annoying.
Get over it, tex is not coming to the Mets and he’s asking way too much. Delgado is gonna give you numbers and when he’s on fire he’s a force to be reckoned with in the middle of that order.
Only way you get Manny is by signing him, not by taking a big bat at first out and basically replacing him with a LF… that would be stupid.
I sense Omar had this deal for Putz in the works when he was able to acquire K-Rod. I’d love to see them both pitch in the bullpen, but am guessing Putz was acquired to be traded. It is difficult to have a top tier closer accept the role of being a setup man. His agent will discourage him from taking a demotion of this nature and it will cause friction. I anticipate they’ll flip him for a setup guy and other talent…What do you all think?
I hope not, I think given the crap team he had to play for in Seattle I don’t see how he can complain… especially given the opportunity to play in NY and for a team that’s got a chance.
Not like he’s setting up Heilman, he’ll be fine.
A soon-to-be 37 year old Ibanez got 3 years for $30 MM. Burrell and Dunn are going to be in for a ride….
Can I call for an end of the trade Delgado/sign Tex discussions? Sure it MAY happen, but its like a 2% chance at best. No way the Mets are going to add another $100M plus contract. Maybe if Delgado didn’t have a resurgance…
Meanwhile, early speculation is that LHP Takashi Saito will be non-tendered by the Dodgers…In an injury shortened 2008, he had a 2.49 era, with a 1.19WHIP, over 47 IP. For his career, he has a 1.95 era, with 11.6K/9, and a .509 OPS against, and is effective vs. both lefties and righties. Salary wise, he made $2mill in 2008. If Omar truely wants a shutdown pen (as in 2006), Saito would be a very intriguing option. Adding him to the mix would help to mitigate deficiencies in the starting rotation, and he would be a very effective weapon against those Phighten Phills. Signing him would also allow Jerry to use either him or Putz in high leverage situations outside of the 8th/9th inning.
Omar should definitely consider…
Omar said the plan to get Putz was being worked out for two weeks before it got done. Best kept secret at the Winter meetings…..
Makes me hope he has something else up his sleeve we don’t know about yet. I’m cautiously optimistic……
As hard as things have been the last two years, imagine being a Pirates fan. During the winter meetings, the biggest news you can hope for is who the team picks in the Rule 5 Draft.
I’m not being sarcastic. We are really lucky to have a team that is constantly committed to becoming championship caliber. Trying and succeeding are different, but at least its entertaining.
I would think Putz is here to stay. Now if we could ship Putz to Colorado for Street and Atkins or even Corpas. Imagine if you could get Street and Corpas for the pen instead of 1 year of Putz.
How about this dream.
Mets trade Putz and Castillo to the Tigers for Palanco, Ordonez and Robertson/Willis.? AGain fantasy type things that I have not even looked at salary yet.
I still think with or without Putz Detroit could be a good trading partner right now.
For the Marquis proponents, what else are the Cubs offering? He makes what, 10MM, and Show only 3ish.
randytate: you’ve got that right. But man, they had some team 40 years ago.
Or we could be a loyal, die hard Cub fan – some of who have lived and died and never saw that WS title.
Me, I’ve been lucky enough to see two now since the Mets existence in ‘62 and a couple of near misses. Here’s hoping ‘09 is our year.
And if we are going the non-tendered route, what about Thames in LF for a bounce back year?
Many think putz is a better closer than rodriguez. I’m not ready to trae him yet.
They had said they would be willing to pay part of his salary. In my opinion taking Show and Marlon would be good enough to me.
TBlz:
I think that if you are going to displace the Murphy/Tatis platoon in LF, I’d imagine you go after more of a sure thing. I would mind Thames off the bench, but doubt he’d accept that.
randytate 23
I agree, but I can think of at least one frequent poster to this blog who would call that “settling.”
mikewelch7
I tried to post a reponse about Putz but I guess I used a bad word because my “comment is awaiting moderation.”
Basically I think he’ll pitch ‘09 with the Mets, and if he does well they’ll trade him because his 2010 contract is a club option $8.6 mil, too much for a set up man. If he does poorly, they’ll buy him out for $1 mil.
(17)
that’s why this is a blog, if u don’t like what i post don’t reply to it.. plain and simple..
p.s: TRADE DELGADO *10000000!!!!!
GET TEIXEIRA!!!!
putz is not going to be traded
If all Omar did was sign Lowe, Manny trade for Marquis thats it then we would be in an amazing position to not only make the playoffs but go far.
Reyes
Beltran
Wright
Manny
Delgado
Church/Murphy
Murphy/Castillo
Schneider/Fatstro
Fatstro
Low
Is it for sure that Thames will be nontendered? Bounce back from what? Last year was one of his best seasons. I would be all for him platooning with Murphy if we go that route.
What’s also great about this trade is the options it gives them down the road.
After this year they could let him go and get draft picks, they can pick up the option and have him for two years and then get draft picks.
Or they can pick up Putz’s option after this year and trade him and get back several really good prospects. There are so many ways this is a great deal for the Mets
thames was nontendered. i suppose he could platoon, but all he does is hit for power, low average an obp. i’d rather tatis over thames.
well, 25 HR with only 56 RBIs seems weird. And the line of .241/.292/.516 (!!) seems odd too.
putz is not going to be traded
If all Omar did was sign Lowe, Manny and trade for Marquis thats it then we would be in an amazing position to not only make the playoffs but go far.
Reyes
Beltran
Wright
Manny
Delgado
Church/Murphy
Murphy/Castillo
Schneider/Fatstro
Fatstro
Anderson/darkhorse player
Murphy
Tatis
Reed
Santana
Lowe
Pelfrey
Maine
Marquis
Stokes
Parnell/darkhorse player
Feliciano
Reed
Sanchez
Putz
K-Rod
Thats a great team right there and theoretically possible.
where is the nontendered list?
And it’s not about having Tatis over Thames. I want Tatis to be a super sub, not a platoon guy.
Castro, Tatis, Pagan/Reed, we still need 2 bench players right? Is Thames better than Evans?
Thames was already non-tendered?
So far I’ve only seen that he was on Jayson Stark’s list of “potential non-tenders.”
That adds another 50 MM or so for this year. Yikes.
trs86
Here is Jayson Stark’s list of possibilities:
Pitchers: Daniel Cabrera, Chad Gaudin, Jimmy Gobble, Brandon Backe, Takashi Saito, Tyler Yates, Wil Ledezma
Hitters: Marcus Thames, Gabe Gross, John Buck, Jose Bautista, Chris Burke, Willy Taveras, Jonny Gomes
evans>thames in a role vs left handed pitching.
Midnight tonight is the deadline for teams to offer arb-eligible players, or they become FA.
Evans OPS: .709
Thames: .809
Doesnt seem close to me.
Thanks, Yeh I have seen about 10 list of possibilities. I wondered if a real list was out yet. When is the deadline?
MIdnight tonight
vs lefties, evans .319/.380/.514
thames .234/.296/.581
Those are the only numbers that matter, I don’t think we would be using either of these guys vs righties unless we had too.
Evans does not even beat him there. How many HR’s does Evan’s have? Thames would be much better for the bench than Evans. Let Evans get better in AAA.
Hmm. Thats a good point. I suppose you need Murphy getting the bulk of the ABs against the RHP
thames struck out about 1 out of 3 ABs last season. i agree if evans isn’t at least a platoon he should be in AAA, but doesnt dunn do the same thing thames does yet better.
evans is not ready for the MLB quite yet and there is no need to rush him
Dunn is lefthanded and crushes RHP. If you signed him, you would have to get Murphy ABs at 2B.
I did say early on that we all shouldn’t get too worked up over the romored guys, since Omar was likely to pull off a complete shocker of a deal (and one not mentioned in the rumors). At least I was right about 1 thing this week!
Anyway, ignoring the big nmae $20mill guys, they can still certainly upgrade the offense.
And the platoon can stay in LF, just upgrade the RH portion of it. Push Tatis back to the bench.
Rivera or Thames would be a nice upgrade over Tatis, and at the same time make the bench better. a win win.
And if one of those guys became the everyday LF, Murph can go down to AAA (learn 2b!) or be a super sub type (LF, RF, 2B, 1B, even give DW a rest now and then).
If Thames is non tendered, wouldn’t be surprised to see Omar grab him. I would also be happy to see Rivera signed.
molina could also be a key move. RH bat with pop, and eliminates one of the 2 black holes in the lineup.
I also hope that they bring in another 2B. Not Hudson, but some younger guy that could take the job (or at least be a back up?) Kind of what some of us hoped Gotay could be!
ANd luis doesn’t have to be moved 1st. Especially if they get a young guy to compete.
Who is that dude mentioned a lot last year?
Adam Dunn is much better than Marcus Thames as although Thames is RH he seems to be better against RHP.
although Thames would come much cheaper
Evans was holding his own last year in his 2nd stint. Who’s to say he wouldn’t do just fine given a ergular job?
Just sign rivera. Junior Manny at 1/4 the cost, and none of the drama! And he can actually play D.
I will predict that a strict Murphy/Rivera platoon would put up some excellent numbers. Better than Ibanez will. And leaves a nice bat on the bench too.
MetsFan4Decades – I hear you on that. I’m about 10 years behind you as a fan but have seen a lot. And the Pirates used to rock, its sad to think that there are 15 year old Pirates fans who have NEVER had any reason to hope.
We lived through the really miserable years (1977-1982 and 1992-1996) but nothing close to what Pirates fan now go through.
By the way, I didn’t include 1962-1968 because even though we were losing I’m guessing it was fun (but before my time).
Oh yea, they were certainly loveable clowns in those early days. Marvelous Marv Throneberry was my favorite that first year…..
Regardless of what Putz or his agent say publicly, he can’t be too happy setting up. However, I doubt it will effect his performance as he seems like a team player and setting up is not too different from closing. The big difference is how the two roles are valued and compensated in the marketplace. As well as the rewards to the ego from the accolades that come from being a successful closer. But his agent is probably angry because it could mean a difference of millions in terms of a contract when he’s a free agent.
thames strucks out alot and has pop like a dunn if given a chance but dunn will cost u 10-15 mil when thames will cost around 5-8 mil it will be cheaper to sign thames
What’s with the trailer trash beard? What a putz!!!
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