Sunday/Monday Putz Rumors

by ~ December 8th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

3:00 PM - Geoff Baker mentions in the comments thread of his latest post (second comment from bottom) that the Tigers won’t trade SP Rick Porcello.  It’s no surprise that Porcello carries the “untouchable” tag, as he’s easily their best prospect.  Things can always change, though.

Monday, 6:45 AM - Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal originally debunked the “Putz is available” rumors of a few days ago, but now he’s changing his tune a bit:

The Mariners are finally listening to offers for Putz; they called one team to gauge the level of interest, saying other clubs have “stepped up.” The Mets, Indians and Cardinals are among the teams believed to be interested in Putz, who could be next season’s Brad Lidge, benefiting from a change in teams. Putz, who will earn $5 million in 2009 with an $8.6 million club option for ’10, is affordable enough for the Mets to acquire in addition to one of the top free-agent closers.

Sunday Evening:

ESPN’s Jayson Stark reminds us that, given all the free agent closers, the market for J.J. Putz is about as weak as can be, and that GM Jack Zduriencik isn’t going to move him without a sizable haul coming back Seattle’s way.  Look for Putz’s value to bump up after the free agents have signed or closer to July’s trade deadline.

I would note that Putz’s 2009 salary is about half of what some of these free agents will be commanding, so a payroll tight team may still be willing to facilitate the Mariners.

Speaking of which, Baseball Prospectus’ John Perrotto has this to say:

The Tigers have cooled on their pursuit of Pirates shorstop Jack Wilson and would prefer to instead use four-corners player Jeff Larish as one of the chips to try to acquire Mariners closer J.J. Putz in a trade.

Larish is an interesting prospect, and is very comparable to recent acquisition Russell Branyan: Huge power potential, lots of walks, lots of strikeouts, low batting average and sketchy defense at various corner positions.

Unlike Branyan, Larish doesn’t have the hugely lopsided lefty/righty splits.  Throughout his minor league career Larish actually hits for a higher batting average against lefties, though his slugging takes a significant dive.

I’m not convinced Larish is enough to anchor a Putz deal, though, and the Tigers will likely have to up the ante, especially with Branyan’s precense.  Seattle will be looking to score pitching prospect Rick Porcello or outfielder Matt Joyce.  Another possibility that I’ve brought up before is that Seattle could try to work Yuniesky Betancourt into the deal, though it seems that Detroit is looking for a strong defender to fill the position, something that Yu-Bet is not.

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  • chris d

    Jon, thanks for being on top of the Winter meetings. To let you know I often check your site first for updates. You do a great job of getting info. You and PI website.

    I have not heard anything about Ibanez and his arbitration acceptance or rejection. This was supposed to happen by today. Have you heard?

  • Slurve

    ^ RAul is rumored to reject and we kinda hope he does… but Putz is drawing lot’s of attention hopefully GMZ play his cards right and gets the right call and makes someone go all-in and we come out the victor of that trade.

  • chris d

    Also, Jon, I am no expert but I would think like you do that the M’s would get most value by combining JJ with Y. Beatencourt. Maybe YB has lost weight and Ibanez has worked him into shape.

    I am sick and tired of these high priced athletes gaining weight and as a result failing to produce, a la C Silva, and numerous others. There should be a clause in all their contracts that they be required to maintain a certain weight and fitness or not get paid. This is ridiculous.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    I wrote that Raul declined arbitration here. A lot of posts today.. some stuff got buried.

    I agree that more baseball players should have fitness clauses built into their contracts. Jose Lopez has them:

    # $0.125M annually in physical performance bonuses: $25,000 for passing each of 4 in-season physical tests (body-fat percentage, 60-yard sprint, 20-yard shuttle run & vertical jump), plus $25,000 for passing 4 in 1 year

    In that case they’re bonuses.. I would like to see requirements.

  • http://myspace.com/tr1ckz pmbaseball7

    I’d love to see Lopez come in to ST with some range. Anyways do expect GMZ to deal Putz during the meetings?

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    ^I doubt it. It could happen, but I think we’ll have to wait until the market swings. January-ish, if at all.

  • http://myspace.com/tr1ckz pmbaseball7

    Thanks. What do you think a package of Yuni and JJ could get us?

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    To be honest, Yuni is an unknown variable.. at least as far as I can tell.

    We all know he’s not good, and most teams do too. For most teams, Yuni’s inclusion wouldn’t sweeten the deal.. it would do the opposite. But, there are some teams that haven’t caught on yet– or at least as much as “smart” teams– and those “dumb” teams will still see the “potential” and believe that he’s still a defensive shortstop and all that.

    Problem is, there is less and less of those “dumb” teams these days. I originally pegged the Tigers as one of those teams, but they’re showing a lot of interest in Adam Everett and Nick Punto, two guys that are worthless with the stick and brilliant with the glove. They’re valuing defense like they never have before.

    Who are the remaining dumb teams? The Royals, Giants and Astros immediately come to mind, with KC being the only one with a SS vacancy. Packaging JJ and Yuni may not work after all.

    The only teams that are a possible match for/showing interest in JJ appear to be (off the top of my head) the Mets, Braves, Blue Jays, Tigers and the Brewers. The Braves, Brewers and Blue Jays all value and measure defense for sure, so they’re out. The Tigers are apparently moving that way as well, so they may be out. The Mets have Jose Reyes at SS.

    A match for both of them might have been the Cardinals, who could use bullpen help and needed a SS, but they recently acquire Khalil Green. So they’re out.

    The best bet for moving Yuni may still be the Royals. Hopefully we can miraculously acquire Kila or Butler.

    Short answer: A Yuni/JJ package doesn’t seem very likely, but they’ll at least try.

    So, IF the Tigers were to overvalue Yuni, Seattle could definitely pull Porcello and perhaps one of Joyce, Larish, Clevlen etc. Don’t get your hopes up, though.

  • http://myspace.com/tr1ckz pmbaseball7

    Yeah. What about Baltimore I looked at their depth chart and they don’t have a SS right now could they be a possibility?

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    It’s within the realm of possibility.. sure. I don’t know enough about their organization to know whether Yuni is the type of player they would like, though.

  • http://myspace.com/tr1ckz pmbaseball7

    True. It seems as if the Royals aren’t worried about OBP or defense considering there interested in Francouer (OBP) and play Butler in the field.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com/ Rob T.

    The Orioles went hard after Khalil Green so they wouldn’t care about Yuni’s OBP but they are also showing interest in Itzuris so they also seem to value defense.

  • http://myspace.com/tr1ckz pmbaseball7

    Thanks, I probably should’ve looked it up before I said it.

  • chris d

    Jon, when LaRue stated “Raul Ibanez will decline arbitration today.” I thought that was just his professional guess. I didn’t know it was fact. He gave no quote or verification as to what his source was. That did not come until evening time when MLB let the M’s know.

  • ernier

    I read this morning on MLBTR that the Cardinals are a team now interested in JJ. It would be nice to bring back Ankiel or Colby Rasmus to play center. I’ve read the Cards are looking for a starte also, so maybe a package of JJ and Washburn for some outfield help.