Roster Move: Mets Trade for Putz

I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but it's being reported everywhere and I'm still awake, so I'll take my chances.

Just a quick and dirty analysis here: from a Mets perspective, turning Smith into Green and Chavez into Reed doesn't mean that much, although Smith would seem to have more upside and Chavez would seem to be better defensively. Turning Heilman into Putz is a neat trick - if Putz is healthy and his terrible 2008 was merely the result of injuries. Of course, if Heilman's 2008 was an aberration as well, this deal has the potential to go bad for the Mets.

Me, I would've down Heilman/Feliciano for Street two weeks ago. This deserves a closer look though, so I'll break down the trade a little more closely soon.

EDIT: Maybe I should've waited. Now ESPN is saying that Jason Vargas and two other minor leaguers are part of the deal on the Mets' side, making the ledger look more like this:

Mets get JJ Putz, Sean Green and Jeremy Reed from Mariners
Mariners get Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Endy Chavez, Jason Vargas, Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto and Ezequiel Carrera from Mets (also get Franklin Gutierrez-plus from Indians)
Indians get Smith and Luis Valbuena from Mariners

Oh, and how about this quote: "An All-Star in 2007 when he saved 40 games, Putz was 6-5 with a 3.88 ERA and 15 saves in 23 chances last season, when he missed long stretches with ribcage and elbow injuries. 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."

STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana*
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine (arbitration eligible)
Jon Niese (renewable)

RELIEF PITCHERS
Francisco Rodriguez
JJ Putz
Scott Schoeneweis
Pedro Feliciano (arbitration eligible)
Duaner Sanchez (arbitration eligible)
Ambiorix Burgos (arbitration eligible)
Brian Stokes (renewable)
Sean Green (renewable)
Eddie Kunz (renewable)
Carlos Muniz (renewable)
Robert Parnell (renewable)
Brandon Knight (renewable)
Billy Wagner (out for 2009 season)

CATCHERS
Brian Schneider
Ramon Castro
Robinson Cancel (renewable)

INFIELDERS
Carlos Delgado*
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Daniel Murphy (renewable)
Argenis Reyes (renewable)

OUTFIELDERS
Carlos Beltran
Ryan Church (arbitration eligible)
Marlon Anderson
Fernando Tatis*
Jeremy Reed (renewable)
Angel Pagan (renewable)
Nick Evans (renewable)

FREE AGENTS
Pedro Martinez
Moises Alou
Orlando Hernandez
Oliver Perez
Luis Ayala
Matt Wise
Tony Armas, Jr.
Damion Easley
Brady Clark
Ramon Martinez
Trot Nixon
Abraham Nunez
Ricardo Rincon
Adam Bostick (minor league free agent)
Nelson Figueroa (minor league free agent)
Gustavo Molina (minor league free agent)

* - "I'll Be the Judge" recap completed