Closer Market

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal disagrees with yesterday’s rumor that J.J. Putz had been officially made available:

Officials from two teams interested in Mariners closer J.J. Putz say that the M’s have yet to decide whether they will move him.

Rosenthal continues by saying that the Mariners may not decide to move him at all, as they may view themselves as contenders in 2009.

This has been a common opinion since new GM Jack Zduriencik has taken over, as he’s yet to talk about the Mariners as a rebuilding team and has been linked to some pretty big names on the market.  Bill Bavasi thought the same thing last season and made one of the worst trades in recent baseball history because of it, making Zduriencik’s rumored outlook a bit scary.  That said, if Zduriencik plans on winning the AL West in 2009, he won’t be sacrificing the future to do it, and I’m confident that any free agents he brings in will be on decent contracts.

Back to Putz, Seattle could still trade him for prospects and bring in someone else.  They’ve supposedly inquired on Kerry Wood.  I would prefer someone cheaper, perhaps an established reliever that hasn’t gotten a shot at closing yet, but that’s just me.

It also appears that the Mets are reconsidering Putz.  There was a rumor going around a while back in which the Mets were said to have made Putz their number one priority, but considering their lack of trade chips and the amount of closers in the free agent market, they may be smarter to just spend the money.  That’s what most fans seem to be calling them to do, for what it’s worth.

SI’s Jon Heyman lists Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, Kerry Wood and Trevor Hoffman as closers the Mets are considering on the free agent market, with trade candidates being Colorado’s Huston Street, Putz, and to a lesser extent Houston’s Jose Valverde and the White Sox’ Bobby Jenks.  Marty Noble of the MLB.com Hot Stove blog says that Rodriguez is their number one choice.

I still think that whoever signs K-Rod will deeply regret it later.

Derek Lowe

The former Mariner has been linked to his old time several times this offseason, but don’t expect a homecoming for Lowe.  He is apparently looking for an average of $18M per season on a five year deal, according to Heyman (linked above).  That is an absolutely ridiculous goal, especially for a 35 year old who has only found consistency as a starter in his last four seasons.   Well, his agent is Scott Boras after all.