Upon Further Review

Last night I wrote I was not thrilled with the JJ Putz deal. Well after thinking about it for 24 hours I've revised my original opinion. Lets look at this deal from all three sides. First Cleveland, they gave up Franklin Gutierrez for Joe Smith. Like a certain team I know the Indians bullpen was a disaster last season. So trading a outfielder which is the strength of the team makes sense. But getting Joe Smith is strange. While Smith definately will be an asset it creates a right handed lopsided pen. The Indians top 3 releivers now are all right handed, Kerry Wood, Jensen Lewis and now Joe Smith. For Seattle they gave up Jeremy Reed, Sean Green and JJ Putz and received Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp and Gutierrez. Apparently Gutierrez was the key to the deal. With Ibanez leaving for free agency and Reed being moved that leaves a gigantic hole in the outfield. Chavez is a terrific 4th outfield but not a starter. I'm curious to see if Aaron Heilman will finally get his wish to start. If Seattle makes no more moves they are not improved, just a little cheaper. As for the Mets it comes down to they gave up Heilman, Chavez, Smith, Carp, Vargas and minor leaguers for JJ Putz. As for the other guys in the deal, Sean Green is similar to Joe Smith. They are both extreme ground ball pitchers but Green is older and is numbers are very underwhelming. I see his role being either pitching in games when the Mets are behind or in situations when they need a double play. Jeremy Reed was a highly thought of prospect who has never really panned out. He is a line drive hitter with very little power. He will be a 5th or 6th outfielder and a pinch hitter. As for Putz when healthy he is dominating. He now turns all Mets games into 7 inning affairs. The most interesting thing I read today came from Jayson Stark who said if baseball had 7 innings the Mets would have beat the Phillies by 11 games. If baseball had 8 innings the Mets would have won by 5. Hopefully with the pen addressed the Mets will move on to getting a starting pitcher and a run producing outfielder. To be continued......

In a big shock CC Sabbathia ended up with the Yankees for enough money to bail out GM. This makes total sense on every level. Of all the teams that were pursuing CC the Yanks definately needed him the most. Think about it the Angels, Red Sox and Dodgers are all strong at the starting pitching while the Yankees rotation is in need of a serious makeover. He gives them a big time ace to compete in the AL East. In the next few days I'm going to work on a piece comparing CC to Johan and I'll talk more about him then.

The last big move was the trade between the Rays and Tigers. Edwin Jackson goes to Detroit while Matt Joyce comes to Tampa. Jackson was a highly thought of prospect going back to his days with LA. Last year everything came together and he really seem to figure it out. He earned 14 wins for the Rays last year. He falls under the very valuable categorey of an established big league pitcher who is not eligible for free agency for a few years. He will join Verlander, Galarraga, Bonderman(if healthy),Miner and Dontrelle Willis in a respectable Tiger rotation. As for the Tampa native Matt Joyce he fits into what has made the Rays successful. Firstly he is a way above average outfielder. He is still very young at 24. His slugging pct last year was .492. Baseball Prospectus 2008 has his top comparable being Ryan Church. Joyce is good, getting better, with a very high ceiling. And did I mention not eligible for free agency for 5 years. Which is very important to the Rays.