A wild, 3-team trade has occurred to net the Mets JJ Putz. Also, Keith Law provides some great analysis. The trade between the Mets, Mariners, and Indians, and will look like this…

• Mets get: JJ Putz, Jeremy Reed, Sean Green
• Indians get: Joe Smith, Luis Valbuena
• Mariners get: Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp, Franklin Gutierrez, pitcher Maikel Cleto, outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, pitcher Jason Vargas

 

• Mets lose: Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto, Ezquiel Carrera, Jason Vargas
• Indians lose: Franklin Gutierrez
• Mariners lose: JJ Putz, Jeremy Reed, Sean Green, Luis Valbuena

 

I absolutely love this trade for the Mets. They add two lights-out closers cheaply. Francisco Rodriguez got only 36 million and then they nab Putz for a bunch of mid-tier players. Could you imagine how they’ll fare in the playoffs? (I’m not saying that they’ll make it, but if they do) They could have Johan Santana go 7 lights-out innings to set it up for Putz and K-Rod to end the game. That’s sick stuff. Green and Reed also add depth to the ‘pen and outfield.

It’s not like they sold the farm, either. They gave up a lot of players, but none are anything special. Smith and Heilman were fairly solid bullpen pieces, but Heilman is coming off an awful year while Smith seemed to get lucky. His peripheral stats were terrible. Endy Chavez was a nice little fourth outfielder, but it doesn’t kill your team to lose a fourth outfielder. Besides, Angel Pagan or Reed could do just as well. Mike Carp was never going to be the Mets’ first baseman. He has some solid potential, but they would never take the below-average power he would of brought to first base because of all their money. Carrera has bad stats, but he does have speed. Vargas is doing really good in the Winter Leagues, but he’s been unsuccessful in his trips to the big leagues. Cleto has high upside because of his great stuff, but his stats weren’t anything special. Still, it is tuff to trade
a young prospect who throws a 98 MPH fastball to go along with a solid slider. He could become a closer one day if he gets his slider under control. I really like this trade, because none of these players would have had a big impact on the Mets in 2009, and probably even beyond.

It seems like a decent trade for the Indians. It was obvious that Gutierrez wasn’t in their long-term plans, and they got a pretty solid return for him. Smith was a good reliever last year, and should still be solid despite bad peripheral stats. Valbuena was solid in the minors, and could become a solid utility player eventually. This is a decent swap for the Tribe.

I’ll be honest by saying that I don’t like this deal for the Mariners. There is not one high upside player in this trade aside from Cleto, but he’s only got one great pitch. I suppose that Heilman could bounce back and become a solid back-end starter for the Ms, but he could also blow up again. I don’t see any of the outfielders —
Franklin Gutierrez, Endy Chavez, or Ezequiel Carrera — becoming anything better than a fourth outfielder. Maybe one of them becomes a fringe center fielder. Mike Carp looks like he will have an above average OBP, but his lack of power doesn’t make him a very attractive prospect. Jason Vargas is basically your AAAA player, and that’s being generous. I’m just not understanding why the Mariners felt they had to trade JJ Putz without getting a package with some solid prospects. I would’ve waited until the trade-deadline.

Whew! That was a long post, but it had to be because it was such a huge trade.