Breaking News : Mets decline J.J Putz’s option !!
Posted by rustyjr on 3:53pm, Thursday November 5th 2009
In what should come as a surprise to no one, Bart Hubbach The NY Post, reported that the the Mets have informed reliever J.J. Putz that they will not pick up his $9.1MM option for 2010, They will instead buy him out for a cool million bucks ( damn I wish I was a injured baseball player !!) Hubbuch says the Mets were weary of his past health issues when when they made him aware of their decision.
Putz, 32, a right handed relief pitcher appeared in 29 games for the Mets before joining the conga line of injured Mets when he developed with an elbow injury that required surgery, even though the Mets played the waiting game hoping he would be one of the fictitious members of the Calvary that would have saved the Mets dismal season. I honestly would invite him back on a incentive laden 1 year contract just in case he is healthy . Look he has to prove to the other teams that he can still pitch , so whats not a better way than taking a shot than at the very least pitching in Spring Training for the Mets just to build up some interest .
Yippy, Yappy & Yahooey?
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making the trade was a gutsy Move on Omar’s part. Anyone care about the prospects we lost in that trade? Carp, Smith, Vargas and Endy, plus two others
I might learn to care about Vargas and Carp on a baseball level.
Carp was excellent in a very small sample (.315/.415/.463 in 65 PA) for the M’s last season at 23 years old. I read on USS Mariner that, while the M’s are considering resigning Branyan, they are also giving Carp serious consideration for 1B in 2010.
Vargas being LH and 26, I think the jury’s still out.
I care about Endy on a personal level, but not on a baseball level. TBD.
This caught my attention:
“Hubbuch says the Mets were weary of his past health issues when they made him aware of their decision.”
That seems to say that the Mets were weary of health issues before this past year’s problems. If that was the case why risk dealing prospects out of a relatively thin farm system. I guess it’s not worth risking the money but it is worth risking the young talent.
Well when they got him he was thought to be healthy with some concern. After missing another entire season don’t you think those concerns would have increased?
What young talent did they really lose? Carp? That’s about it. I liked Vargas but Smith and Endy were nothing special.
It’s always easy to go back and second guess but at the time it was a good move because it allowed us to get a high reward guy who could have been a closer for many teams to setup one of the best closers in the game.
Carp had a solid but unspectacular AAA season (271 .372 .446 ) and an impressive brief stint in the big leagues (315 .415 .463).
Carrera opened some eyes at AA with a .337 .441 .416 line and 27 SBs.
Smith was injured for a lot of this year but pitched precisely to the little better than average level that he pitched with the Mets (3.44 ERA and 1.27 WHIP) in 34 IP.
I was all for the trade at the time and can’t quibble with it now but in retrospect it would be nice to have three young in expensive guys who could compete for spots during the next couple of years in positions of current need.
It was a trade that had to be made, no second guessing. Did it pan out? no it didn’t, but you cannot complain, nor am i accusing anyone of complaining. If you want to complaina bout the Lindsrtom trade, then by all means complain, because you’re trading potential talent for nothing. Putz, when healthy is a dominant pitcher and had he stayed healthy the bullpen would have been untouchable, and was for the early part of the season. Good try Omar, maybe you can bring him back, but that’s a move you make if you want to win. If Carp is good, congratulations for him, and move on.
Outstanding post, could not agree more.
Except that Putz had issues the year before and the Mets knew about it. He had (and this is not meant to be political) a pre-existing condition in his elbow and they thought (based on Doctor’s evaluations) he would last the season. They essentially end up with nothing out of that deal.
But essentially lost very little in the deal. Yes it was a gamble but still a low risk gamble.
I wonder if JJ is someone the Rays will kick the tires on. They are often rumored to be looking to improve the back end of their bullpen as cheaply as possible.
Or, nightmare of nightmares, the Phils sign him and he becomes Lidge 2.0 next year….oh the humanity….
The 09 version of Lidge would be just fine!
Or, even worse, the Yankees looking for a 6th or 7th inning bridge to hughes sign Putz and have the best 7 8 9 combo in the game!
That could happen, especially if he chooses to go for the most money.
But I’m inclined to take him at his word, which IIRC was that, if it were his freedom to choose, he would be a closer.
It’s my belief that wherever he goes it’ll be a place they at least give him the opportunity to win the closers job, if not simply hand it to him.
In that context, who needs a closer? Below are just guesses, nothing more. Please correct/adjust as you see fit.
Rays
Jays
O’s
Tigers
Braves
Marlins
Nats
Astros
Cubs
They all seem to make sense to me.
Might even add his former Seattle Mariners to the list. Though Aardsma performed well last season he doesn’t have a Trevor Hoffman like track record.
Yeah, if he is going to be held to a league minimum someone from that list would take him. My guess is he still gets 2 million with more in line with incentives.