The Mets have acquired a setup man for new closer Francisco Rodriguez — and that setup man is another closer from the American League West. Though the Mets just acquired J.J. Putz, he may not be happy going from a closer’s role to being a setup man, Ken Rosenthal says.
J.J. Putz is headed to New York in a three-team trade with the Mariners and Indians, according to major-league sources. Under terms of the deal, the Mets get Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green from Seattle.
The Mariners receive reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez, first baseman Mike Carp, and minor leaguers Maikel Cleto, Jason Vargas and Ezequiel Carrera from the Mets. They also get Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians.
The Indians get reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and infielder Luis Valbuena from Seattle.
From the Mets’ perspective, the deal is Heilman and Smith for Putz. Chavez and Reed are simply an exchange of backup outfielders, Smith and Green are an exchange of right-handed groundball specialists.
Putz, 31, suffered through an injury plagued season for the M’s. He worked 46.3 innings after going 71.2 in 2007 and 78.1 in ’06. Putz recorded 15 saves in 2008, but combined for 76 the two seasons prior.
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