M’s Deal Four to Mets, Indians
by Jon ~ December 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Update 8:58 PM: Geoff Baker has the names of the prospects Seattle is receiving, although they’re from the Mets, rather than the Indians. RHSP Maikel Cleto, CF Ezequiel Carrera, and LHSP Jason Vargas.
Update 8:22 PM: The deal is done, according to Jim Street. For now, it looks like the deal below is the official deal, perhaps with the exception of the Indians prospects. Rosenthal’s update (linked below) still mentions the prospects.
Updates for this trade were being published in such rapid succession that writing this post was impossible, but I’ve cleared out all the now-irrelevant information and this is where we currently stand.
The Mets are working to acquire a setup man for new closer Francisco Rodriguez — and that setup man would be another closer from the American League West.
J.J. Putz could be headed to the Mets in a three-team trade with the Mariners and Indians, according to major-league sources.
Under terms of the deal, the Mets would get Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green from Seattle. The Mariners would receive reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez and first baseman Mike Carp from the Mets. They’d also get Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians and minor leaguers. The Indians would get reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and infielder Luis Valbuena from Seattle.
From the Mets’ perspective, the deal would be Heilman and Smith for Putz. Chavez and Reed would be an exchange of backup outfielders, Smith and Green an exchange of right-handed groundball specialists.
This certainly came out of nowhere! Here’s an easier to read version of what’s above:
Seattle gets:
OF Gutierrez, RHRP Heilman, 1B Carp, OF Chavez, Indians minor leaguers.
Clevland gets:
RHRP Smith, 2B Valbuena
New York gets:
RHRP Putz, RHRP Green, OF Reed
Nothing is official, but let’s take a quick look at some of the guys we’re expecting to land:
Gutierrez, 25, is known as one of the better defensive corner outfielders in all of baseball. The past two seasons he’s been ranked as the best defensive right fielder according to John Dewan’s +/- system, as he was +20 plays better than the average right fielder in 2007 and +29 in 2008. This past season he was also the highest ranked right fielder according to bUZR, and the second highest according to PMR.
Gutierrez would be a center fielder on most teams, and I would guess that that’s where he’s heading with Seattle, should this rumor prove legitimate.
His value lies in his outstanding defense, as he’s just a career .258/.308/.409 hitting in 284 major league games. That said, he’s only had one full season under his belt and could begin living up to the expectations placed on him as one of baseball’s top prospects 3-4 years ago. I know a lot of people thought he was a breakout candidate coming into this season, but perhaps 2009 is the year.
Jeff Sullivan from Lookout Landing:
Gutierrez’s offense could stand to improve, but the straight defensive improvement over Raul would seriously be on the order of like 35-40 runs. There are worse trades to make.
We’ve discussed Carp a bit in the past. He is a left handed hitting first baseman with decent pop and great plate discipline, and is only 22 years old. He doesn’t project as a star, but he could be a very serviceable first baseman for years to come.
My first reaction when the first rumors surfaced was to compare Gutierrez and Carp to Tigers OF Matt Joyce and 1B Jeff Larish. At first I thought that the Tigers package could be better, but I quickly changed my mind. First of all Carp is hands down better than Larish. He walks more, hit for better average and doesn’t strike out near as much. Gutierrez’s defense is so good that he is probably more valuable than Joyce right now, although Joyce’s bat fits nicely in Safeco. However, if Gutierrez’s bat ever comes around he’ll be the better player by a long shot. When comparing those four, Seattle made the better deal.
But those aren’t the only two Seattle stands to get. RHRP Aaron Heilman might be Seattle-bound as well. The 29 year old reliever and former first round pick struggled last season, but he has been a solid reliever and has the stuff to be a setup man. Seattle would also get Endy Chavez, who is simply replacing Jeremy Reed, and they’d receive prospects from the Indians.
I am one of Luis Valbuena’s biggest fans, so I’d hate to see him go, but this looks like a very nice deal for Seattle so far.
Any more updates will be tacked to the top of the page.
21 Responses to M’s Deal Four to Mets, Indians
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Slurve
December 10th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Should i be happy or sad…
pmbaseball7
December 10th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I like Carp but I don’t know much about Gutierrez.
Swazi4
December 10th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Gutierrez is a good pick up. He’s solid defensively and can have a good year offensively.
Putz deserves to be on a winning team honestly, but I think overall, this trade helps our future if it goes through.
Jon Shields
December 10th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Alright, I finally got the post straightened out. If the deal goes through as currently rumored, I really like this deal for Seattle, especially if the Indians prospects are anything worthwhile.
pmbaseball7
December 10th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I don’t like giving up Green but we’re getting Heilman and I too am a big Valbuena fan. Other than that it looks like a good trade to me.
Mr.Benton
December 10th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Wow this trade came about fast! I like the haul the m’s are getting depending on the prospects they recieve. Valbuena is a big loss though.
Swazi4
December 10th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
If its the a-typical Indians spects, they should be pretty good. Cleveland’s system is one of the best in baseball.
Swazi4
December 10th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
According to Rosenthal, the trade is a done deal.
We got Heilma, Carp, Chavez, Gutierrez, and CLE Prospects
Mets get Putz and Reed
Tribe gets Smith and Luis.
Good deal, our future is looking bright. GmZ is making good moves.
pmbaseball7
December 10th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
you forgot sean green in the mets deal
ernier
December 10th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Geoff Baker says the minor league guys are from the Mets and they are
right handed pitcher Maikel Cleto, outfielder Ezequiel Carrera and left handed pitcher Jason Vargas.
pmbaseball7
December 10th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Who do you think the minor leaguers are from the Indians?
Slurve
December 10th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
we got Maikel Cleto, outfielder Ezequiel Carrera and left handed pitcher Jason Vargas.
Even though this trade is kinda good my heart is still thunderstruck…
pmbaseball7
December 10th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I feel you.
section331
December 10th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
This is the suckiest suck that ever sucked suck. :p
Best interest, and blah blah blah, I know – but I was not prepared for this…and we may lose Dickey. The suck, it burns…
Jon Shields
December 10th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
None of use could have imagined Putz setting up for K-Rod a year ago. It’s a strange thought.
I’ll miss J.J. and his antics, but I feel like this trade has rejuvenated my fandom a bit. I’m pumped for the rest of the offseason.
section331
December 10th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I’m going to give it my best shot – but 2009 is the year I wear black to the park every time I’m there. I still love the Mariners, but this smarts like whacking your elbow into the wall. Bleah.
All I have to say at the moment is, thank God we don’t have to play the Mets this year. haha!
Rob T.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Turns out Cleto is the best prospect of the last 3. JAC thinks he could be the hidden gem of the deal.
Swazi4
December 11th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I hope so. Gutierrez is a great pick up as well.
I’m really looking forward to what other moves GmZ has in store.
Alot people are griping about this deal, but I think we got the best end of this deal. FG is going to be a great addition to the OF, Carp could wind up filling our 1B or DH hole(pending on what we do about Dunn).
Chavez will be a good addition to the bench, but i’m wondering if this takes Morse out of our picture(which would make me eternally sad).
Honestly, I think J.J. should be closing and K-Rod setting up, but that might upset Frankie a bit. J.J. has better stuff that K-Rod does.
If we can get all of this for Putz, I can only imagine what we could get for Ichiro if we actually started entertaining offers for him.
Jon Shields
December 11th, 2008 at 10:31 am
RE: Cleto
Yeah.. I read some stuff after I posted that that was really encouraging. Cleto does have something going for him, and a quick glance at the stats doesn’t show it. The guy I originally thought might be the best, Carrera, may be the weakest prospect of the three.
The prospects were much better than I anticipated. I thought that, at best, Seattle would get one legit prospect and a couple of roster fillers.
Walrus
December 11th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Jon,
Now since we have “extra starting pitchers, do you think it is basically guaranteed that we will soon be making a trade with Milwaukie? Especially since they missed out on CC and Sheets declined arbitration…
Or do you think we can pull something off with the Dodgers or Braves if they both miss out as well?
Or my hope, somehow talk San Diego out of Peavy…
Jon Shields
December 11th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Milwaukee is a possibility, especially if Erik Bedard’s name comes up. We all like to think that Milwaukee would want Jarrod Washburn, but he’s a number 4 starter and the Brewers would want a 1-2 starter with the probable loss of both CC and Sheets. Braves are also looking for an upper echelon starter as well, as they’ve already landed Javier Vazquez to hold down the middle/back of their rotation.
We may have to wait until Spring Training gets a little closer for teams to want to bite on Washburn. Currently there are free agents that are better and cheaper than he is, so when the market clears out we’ll have to shop him to the teams that missed out. It’s too early for that right now.