J.J. Putz is one of Seattle’s better trade chips this offseason despite his off-year in 2008.  For the amount that top closers are being paid, he’s signed quite reasonably ($5M for 2009) and has shown the ability to be one of the elite.

Clubs looking for a closer and some clubs looking for a setup man could be interested.  Here’s a quick list before I start my day.

Most likely:

New York Mets- GM Minaya doesn’t like Francisco Rodriguez’s current pricetag and Brian Feuntes will be fielding a lot of offers.  Putz has been mentioned as a possibility for the Mets in the past, and again today by MetsBlog.

Detroit Tigers – Fernando Rodney didn’t cut it late in the year, and the Tigers are very openly looking for a replacement.  Larry LaRue is reporting that they view Putz as a possibility.  Could Seattle nab Brent Clevlen and Jeff Larish?

Milwaukee Brewers- The Brew Crew made a bad gamble with Eric Gagne last season and they’ll be looking for an upgrade this offseason.  Jack Zduriencik’s presence in Seattle’s new front office is going to keep the Milwaukee-Seattle hot stove burning hotter than normal for at least the next year.

Boston Red Sox- The bullpen was a weak link for Boston for much of the ’08 season, and they reportedly tried to buy-low Putz while he was struggling early on.  They could use Putz as a bridge to Jonathan Papelbon.

Less likely:

Cleveland Indians- Joe Borowski was awful, and their supposedly foolproof backup plan Rafael Betancourt failed miserably as well.  They could try to fill the spot from within with Jensen Lewis, Masahide Kobayashi or someone else, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking at other options.

New York Yankees- It’s probably a bit of a stretch, but the Yankees could use some bullpen help and they’ve paid more for less.  Perhaps Seattle could try to package him with Jarrod Washburn if the Yankees are still interested.

Longshots: Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals

Please feel free to add your own speculation in the comments.  I assembled this in a bit of a hurry so I could have missed something obvious.