New York Mets acquire RP J.J. Putz

December 10, 2008 @ 00:00:00

By Keith Hernandez
Edited by Tim Heaney

Jim Street, of MLB.com, reports the New York Mets acquired former Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz as part of a three-team, nine-player trade with the Cleveland Indians Wednesday, Dec. 10. Putz will be the setup man for Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.

The Mariners will receive relief pitcher Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez and first baseman Mike Carp from the Mets, along with outfielder Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians. Second baseman Luis Valbuena will be sent to the Indians, who will also receive relief pitcher Joe Smith from the Mets. Mariners pitcher Sean Green and outfielder Jeremy Reed will be sent to the Mets.

The Mets have considerably shored up their shaky bullpen from a year ago with prominent moves on consecutive days. A day after reaching an agreement with Rodriguez on a three-year deal, their bullpen now looks to have one of the most imposing one-two punches in the big leagues next season.

Putz will lose pretty much all of his fantasy value as he will be the primary eighth-inning bridge to Rodriguez. He's coming off of an injury-riddled 2008 season with the Mariners, in which he posted a 3.88 ERA with 56 strikeouts and only 15 saves in 46 1/3 innings pitched.

The departure of Putz leaves a gaping vacancy in the Mariners bullpen. Pitcher Brandon Morrow was slated to enter the Mariners' rotation in 2009, but the trade of Putz could force him to return to the closer role. Stay posted to KFFL.com for further analysis on this situation.

The acquisition of another proven closer in the bullpen in Putz should increase the fantasy value of Rodriguez, giving him more chances to slam the door in the ninth inning.

The rest of the players involved in the nine-player trade will likely be irrelevant in fantasy baseball leagues next season.

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Keith Hernandez

Keith, an editor with KFFL, joined the team as a Hot off the Wire analyst in 2008 and has been playing fantasy sports since 2005. He is involved in MLB, NFL and NASCAR content. He graduated from the University of California-San Diego in 2005 with a B.A. in Communications and was a four-year starter as a member of the baseball program.

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