Following the emergence of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, fans around baseball – and rightly so – began paying more attention to the value of defense. I’m sure that by now you’ve heard about the difficulties involved in measuring defensive skills ad nauseum. But just know that we are getting better. You know how we know? Because results are reflected in win-loss columns.

Take the Seattle Mariners for instance. The news around baseball on December 12th, 2008 was how the New York Mets upgraded their much-ridiculed bullpen by acquiring J.J. Putz from Seattle. Much less talked about was how good of a deal this was for the Mariners.

While Putz was certainly a very effective reliever, Seattle saw a chance to parlay his skill into something the team needed more – outfield defense. In the very same trade that brought Putz to Queens, the Mariners obtained Endy Chavez from the Mets and Franklin Gutierrez from Cleveland, two of the finest defensive outfielders in the game. Chavez would play left, Guttierez center, and Ichiro would move back permanently to right where he would be more effective. None of these three players would offer you much in terms of power. But the Mariners were OK with that. And, so far, so good.

As of this writing, the Seattle pitching corps has an MLB-leading 3.33 ERA. And I think a good chunk of that early success can be attributed to the OF who have not disappointed, leading MLB in OF Revized Zone Rating (a stellar .968) AND plays made out of their fielding zones (49), which is certainly no easy feat.

Predictably, their team offense does leave a bit to be desired with an AL-worst .308 OBP and a .370 slugging percentage (13th in AL). But this has surprisingly been offset very well by how many runs they’re not allowing to opposing lineups. Consequently, they lead the AL West with a 13-8 record, which is really amazing if you think about the lack of offense.

Now obviously it’s way too early to know for sure that their defense can keep this many runs off the board for much longer. However, I’m inclined to believe that the Mariners are for real. Sure, Jarrod Washburn is going to have more nights like he did on Sunday. But neither Carlos Silva nor Chris Jakubauskas (or whomever will take his spot in the rotation) is going to be this bad either. Plus, we know enough about Adrian Beltre to trust that he’s better than his current OPS+ of 16 suggests, which should offset the eventual decline of Russell Branyan’s performance.

However, even a believer like myself didn’t exactly predict this (alright, fine, I didn’t at all). I had little idea of just how much of an impact this defense would have. But like I said, we’re getting better at evaluating this stuff, and baseball’s going to be more fun as a result.

Late last night, a trade was completed between the Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, and the New York Mets with the big name involved – J.J. Putz – headed to Flushing.

Here’s how the trade breaks down:

Mets get: J.J. Putz (RP), Jeremy Reed (OF), and Sean Green. Give up: Aaron Heilman (RP), Endy Chavez (OF), Joe Smith (RP), Mike Carp (1B) Jason Vargas, (SP/RP), Maikel Cleto (SP), and Ezequiel Carrera (OF).

Indians get: Luis Valbuena (2B), and Joe Smith (RP). Give up: Franklin Gutierrez (OF), Jeremy Reed (OF).

Mariners get: Franklin Gutierrez (OF), Aaron Heilman (RP), Endy Chavez (OF), Mike Carp (1B), Jason Vargas, (SP/RP), Maikel Cleto, and Ezequiel Carrera. Give up: J.J. Putz (RP), Sean Green (RP) Luis Valbuena (2B).

For those keeping count, that’s twelve players overall. Phew.

Mets GM Omar Minaya had set out to remake the much maligned New York bullpen, and with this trade and the acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez, he has done just that for better or worse. He has replaced the trio of Billy Wagner (injured – out for 2009), Heilman and Smith with K-Rod, Putz, and Green.

Wagner’s contract with the Mets runs out just as he would be preparing for a return from Tommy John surgery so he needed to be replaced no matter what. Whether the Rodriguez signing was the way to go is yet to be determined.  Regarding the righty side-armer Joe Smith, his value to any team is limited due to his ineffectiveness against left-handed hitters. He’s a ROOGY, and such pitchers limit the manager’s bullpen flexibility, leading to the overuse of everyone else.

And while I liked Aaron Heilman, his return to the Mets in 2009 was unlikely. He became the poster child of the inept bullpen despite being a very dependable player from 2005-07. His control left him in 2008 against both lefties and righties and he ended up issuing 46 unintentional walks in 76 innings. In his career, Heilman garnered a reputation as a righty who can shut down lefty hitters thanks to his highly effective sinker/change-up combo, and last year he began mixing in a slider as well. I wonder if this addition of a third pitch was the problem. Although he threw them mostly against righties – and it was the left-handed hitters who destroyed him to the tune of a .991 OPS – it may help explain his inconsistent delivery in 2008. According to pitch f/x, his release point was further away from his body, which would be a logical answer to the spike in walks. I’m not sure why he felt compelled to add the slider, but the cynic in me thinks that he wanted to prove he had the ability to be a starter. Whatever the reason, the boo birds rained down on Heilman in 2008 and he just wasn’t the same guy.

The Mets also gave up Endy Chavez in the deal, who was far more popular with Mets fans than his skills dictated. Yes, he was fast, yes, he hustled, and yes, he made one of the greatest catches in Mets history (in a season-ending loss, but that’s just a detail…). But his suited role is as a late-inning defensive replacement, which is certainly useful, but hardly irreplaceable.

In addition, the Mariners picked up another defensive specialist in Franklin Gutierrez from Cleveland, who is a younger, right-handed, and better version of Chavez.  I honestly don’t know why Seattle wanted two no-bat, all-glove guys, but their acquisition of some Mets farmhands makes sense. Mike Carp is a 22 year-old first baseman whose skills I like quite a bit. He’s never going to be a defensive asset and his future may be as a DH, but he’s got little pop and has already demonstrated good plate discipline. Unless his power develops quite a bit as he matures, he won’t be a star.

Why was Cleveland even a part of this deal – unless their scouts are high on Valbuena? But I’m glad they were. Consequently, J.J. Putz is now a Met.

Putz’ 2008 season was an injury-fueled wash out. But if he’s healthy, he’s probably a better pitcher than K-Rod right now. He misses just as many bats but walks much fewer. Although Rogriguez will undoubtedly be the closer for the team, Putz is a great insurance policy and should be one of the best 8th inning pitchers in baseball. And on top of it, the Mets also get reliever Sean Green, a ground ball pitcher (3:1 GB:FB ratio) whose skills were not exactly enhanced by the poor Seattle defense. Green will fill Smith’s spot as a righty arm from the pen.

It is not, however, a total slam dunk for the Mets. Unless the team exercises his 2010 option for $8.6MM, Putz is a free agent after the year. His agent must be fuming that his client has to be a set-up man in a contract year. So there’s a pretty good chance that the Mets paid for one year of Putz. The team can do without Heilman, Chavez and Smith without much problems, but both Carp and 19-year old Maikel Cleto have a chance to be average big leaguers (and Cleto has more upside).

Seattle did the right thing by dealing Putz for a cachet of spare parts and prospects. The team probably wasn’t going to contend in 2009 so who pitches their ninth inning is fairly irrelevant.

And if someone can explain to me why Cleveland felt compelled to be a part of this deal, I’m all ears.

Most things are looking up for the Metropolitans these days. By reeling off 10 wins in a row recently, the Mets have gotten themselves back into the thick of the NL East race. Carlos Delgado has rediscovered his stroke after a horrid start, the emergence of Mike Pelfrey and the re-emergence of Oliver Perez has solidified the rotation, and the bullpen is performing much better under new pitching coach Dan Warthen and the more adept bullpen management of new manager Jerry Manuel.

But the one place the Mets still have a gaping hole is in the outfield, where scrapheap find Fernando Tatis is manning right field and bench-player-at-best Endy Chavez has been pressed into fulltime service in left. This unfortunate situation has arisen due to the ailments of Moises Alou (which should have been foreseen), and the continuing concussion woes of Ryan Church (which the Mets badly exacerbated by rushing him back).

But regardless of the cause of the situation, something needs to be done, as the Mets can ill afford to miss out on offensive production from crucial corner spots in such a tight three-way race in the East. While it’s true that Church may eventually come back (possibly as soon as next week), and that Tatis may keep up his strong hitting (Alou on the other hand, is done for the year), the Mets can not afford to gamble on both of those things happening, and should go out and acquire a corner outfielder before the deadline.

Fortunately for the Mets, several of those appear to be available.

- What They Need Index -

How about that Endy Chavez catch? That was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen. Certainly the best I’ve ever seen in the playoffs. All-time, I’d rank it just behind the Aaron Rowand nose-breaking catch and the Brian Giles scaling the wall in Pittsburgh catch, and just in front of the Kevin Mitchell barehanded catch.

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