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.

Before the 2007 season began, it wasn’t all that difficult to see that the Indians would be a team that needed to be reckoned with. Despite an unimpressive 78-win season the year before, this was the team whose run differential was a plus 88. They were better than their record had shown. And they went on to win 96 games without any major additions in 2007.

Flash forward to November 2008. The Indians had once again underplayed their run differential to the tune of a .500 record despite scoring 805 runs against 761 runs given up. But things are different. C.C. Sabathia is gone. Travis Hafner looks like a shell of his former self and Victor Martinez’ power disappeared overnight. On the positive end of the spectrum, Grady Sizemore cemented himself as a topflight player and Kelly Shoppach emerged as an offensive threat that made Victor Martinez’s sudden decline easier to swallow. Shin-Soo Choo was no longer just a fun name to recite, but a solid big leaguer who still had notable upside. Not to mention the fact that Cliff Lee surprised everyone and got himself a Cy Young award. With these players, the talent gap between the old guard and the new in Cleveland is not vast at all.

However, they do have areas that require help. For one, it’s actually rather amazing that the Indians scored as many runs as they did with so little production coming from the conventional power positions. The Indians had Ryan Garko and Casey Blake (before he went to LA) at first and third, with Ben Francisco and Franklin Gutierrez in left and right, plus Hafner DHing. Upgrading these positions offensively would not be that difficult under ordinary circumstances. But if you take a look at the first base options on the free agent market, the names do not inspire much confidence aside from Mark Teixeira — and the third basemen are worse. With Pronk and his contract entrenched at the DH spot, signing players not named Teixeira would mean a defensive downgrade that may not be worth the offensive upgrade and the financial commitment that would go with it.

And herein lies the problem with having a DH who struggled as badly as Hafner did in 2008. This year’s free agent market is full of all-bat-no-glove type players whose value would be maximized by only utilizing them for offensive purposes - Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, Pat Burrell, Frank Thomas, Adam Dunn, Manny Ramirez, etc. With his contract (guaranteed $51.75MM over the next four years), a team like the Indians, whose payroll hasn’t hit $80MM per year since 2001 (and is often well below that mark) do not have much choice but to keep giving Pronk a shot. Yes, he was injured for much of 2008 and certainly, his poor performance can partly be attributed to it. But his 2007 season wasn’t very good either and players like Hafner age quickly. Long story short, I don’t think we’ll ever see him perform at his previous levels ever again. Only a repeat of his 2007 campaign would be a realistic goal.

Moving on to other topics, there’s been talk of moving Jhonny Peralta to third base which doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. But this would obviously depend on who would replace him at short. And Peralta’s bat profiles as average at the hot corner and doesn’t do anything to improve their lineup power. Unless the Tribe shell out the money to bring in Rafael Furcal, it’s probably best to keep Peralta at short for the time being.

On the pitching side, players who have as big a statistical leap as Cliff Lee had last season tend to come back down to earth - not that his “earth” is all that bad. As long as his low walk total wasn’t a total fluke, Lee should remain a very good player. And to counteract this drop, Fausto Carmona can be expected to be better. No one had foreseen Carmona’s performance in 2007. By the same token, no one foresaw such a poor follow-up year. The real Fausto Carmona should be somewhere in the middle, which still makes him an above-average pitcher. The Tribe can also expect the return of Jake Westbrook from Tommy John surgery sometime in the summer and he should be a positive addition to the rotation. In the meantime, rookie Scott Lewis (who made his debut in September) should get the chance to earn a full time spot along with fellow young arms Aaron Laffey, Anthony Reyes, and Jeremy Sowers.

Their bullpen could use some help as well. Currently, their best relievers are Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis. In addition, top prospect Adam Miller is expected to be on an innings-limit making him a reliever for most if not all of 2009. And while he had a terrible season, Rafael Betancourt is a better pitcher than his 2008 numbers indicate. But Perez is the only lefty of the bunch so they could use one more.

But their primary focus should really be to boost the offensive production coming from their corner positions. Ben Francisco, Ryan Gutierrez and Ryan Garko are probably not going to cut it if the Indians want to overtake the White Sox for the division crown. Giving Choo more at-bats would probably be a cheap and worthwhile option. I would also argue that Kelly Shoppach’s value is never going to be higher than it is right now and ought to be shipped out to one of the many teams who’d love an offensive upgrade at the catcher spot in exchange for a viable third baseman (Red Sox perhaps?).

All in all, I like the Indians’ chances in 2009. But much of it is going to rest upon the bats of Hafner and Victor Martinez. If their 2008 season wasn’t a fluke, then much of what they accomplish this offseason will most likely be moot.

- What They Need Index -

I’m not going to waste your time with a big lead in. Game 2 between the Phillies and Dodgers starts in an hour. So let’s get right to it.

National League

I love Brad Lidge. He’s like a brother to me. And without him the Phillies wouldn’t be playing October baseball right now. But he pitched in 69 innings this season. By comparison, CC Sabathia pitched in 130 innings during his half season in the NL. So I have a hard time giving the award to Lidge, this season’s most dominant reliever, when there are a handful of starters who had equally dominant seasons and pitched in far more innings.

For me, this boils down to a race between three guys: Brandon Webb, Johan Santana and Tim Lincecum. Webb led the NL in wins, which is something he can feel good about. But it’s not something I value particularly highly. Santana led the league in ERA, which is a more important metric, but still not the end-all-be-all. Lincecum was second in wins and ERA, as well as VORP among NL pitchers, and he led the league in strikeouts by a lot, led the league in K/9 by a full run, led the league in pitching win shares and led the league in pitching runs created. He’s got my vote.

American League

In the AL it’s really a two horse race. And it’s a dead heat. Cliff Lee led the league in wins and ERA, was second in WHIP and was ninth in strikeouts. Roy Halladay led the league in WHIP, was second in ERA and wins and third in strikeouts. The two pitchers tied for the league lead in pitching runs created. They both had the same number of quality starts (23).

Maybe one of these pitchers benefited disproportionately from above average defensive support? In a word, no. Lee’s ERA, independent of the defense behind him, was 2.95, good for first in the AL. Halladay’s DIPS was 3.07, second in the league.

Halladay led the league in innings pitched. Lee was a distant second, 23 innings behind Halladay. Lee was also second in complete games, with 4. Halladay led the league in complete games with 9.

This really is a toss up. I’ll give it to Halladay, because he had a lot more strikeouts, which is the best result a pitcher can achieve, and he threw more complete games. But in a perfect world these two guys would share the award.

If Ned Colletti is not the worst GM in all of major league baseball (thank you Brian Sabean!), he is awfully close. Colletti proved once again how overmatched he is by the actually intelligent GMs in the game by trading away top pitching prospect Jon Meloan and breakout minor league catcher Carlos “Santana” Santana for Cleveland utility player Casey Blake.

Of course, Blake was coveted by several teams because he is a free agent to be on a team going nowhere and thus figured to be a decent bat who could be had for a fairly cheap price. Which makes the high price the Dodgers paid so baffling.

After Clayton Kershaw (who is currently up with the big club), Meloan was the pitching prospect closest to putting up good numbers in the majors. Meloan had been an absolutely dominant reliever last year in the minors. Last season at double-A Jacksonville he had compiled a 2.18 ERA and 19 saves and 70 strikeouts in 45.1 innings, and then posted a 1.69 ERA in 21.1 innings at triple-A Las Vegas.

In fact, in his entire minor league career, Meloan has posted an astonishing 335 strikeouts in only 262 innings.

But this year the Dodgers insisted on trying to convert Meloan back into a starter, and he posted an unsatsisfying 5-10 record with a 4.97 ERA, although he did keep striking out almost a batter an inning.

Given how dominant Meloan had been as a reliever, and given that with Takashi Saito down with an injury the Dodgers were in need of a setup man, Meloan and his live arm should have been up with the big club already, especially given the relief innings they are currently wasting on retreads and nobodies like Ramon Troncoso, Brian Falkenborg, and Jason Johnson.

And he certainly should not have been involved in any trades for a two month rental like Casey Blake.

Carlos Santana is not quite as awesome a prospect as Meloan, but he is having a huge breakout season in high A, batting .318 with a .424 on base percentage and a .563 slugging. Most impressively, he already has 66 walks on the season and has walked more than he has struck out, which reminds one of the minor league career of another catcher you may have heard of, current Dodgers backstop Russ Martin.

But giving up good prospects is not always bad if you get a good return. The real problem with this deal is Casey Blake and the guys the Dodgers already had

Not only is Blake going to be a free agent, thus making him only a two month rental, but he is also unlikely to represent an improvement over they guys he is replacing at third base. While it is true that rookies Andy LaRoche and Blake DeWitt have been slumping of late, and Blake has been hot, we are talking about Casey Blake here.

Blake is a 34-year-old no-glove utility guy posting an .830 OPS when his career average is only .782. It seems much more likely that he will hit at something less than an .830 clip the rest of the way than that he will continue to hit 50 points above his career average OPS in his age 34 season.

But the real downside of the Casey Blake deal is that Casey Blake is one of the worst defensive third basemen in baseball, whereas DeWitt is excellent and LaRoche is at least average. Given that the Dodgers are now going with Blake at third, cement-footed Nomar at short, and 40 year old Jeff Kent at second, it is not a stretch to wonder if the Dodgers do not now have the worst defensive infield in baseball. At the very least you can count on any ball hit to the hole on the left side getting through for a hit.

Given that the Dodgers are heavily depending on groundball pitchers such as Derek Lowe and Hiroki Kuroda, this is very very bad news. When you throw in how questionable it is that Blake will even be able to outhit Andy LaRoche (if the Dodgers actually let him play every day), this trade is just a huge subtraction all around.

But of course, Casey Blake is Casey Blake, a big-name “experienced veteran” (big bonus points for his prematurely gray hair), and this is the Casey Blake of the Cleveland INDIANS who nearly went to the World Series last year. So naturally Ned Colletti couldn’t resist, no matter the price.

You knew it was only a matter of time before his incurable case of chronic big-name-itis flared up again.

We hadn’t gotten to Milwaukee yet in our pre-trade-deadline rundown of what all 30 teams need. But word has just gone forth that the Brewers are shipping prospects to Cleveland in exchange for reigning Cy Young pitcher C.C. Sabathia. This is precisely what Milwaukee needed.

Not only is this a fantastic deal for Milwaukee, it’s a pretty good deal for Cleveland, too. Milwaukee is giving up yet another of their young sluggers who can’t play defense in the person of AA prospect Matt LaPorta—he’s totally superfluous to them, given that they already have Prince Fielder at first and Ryan Braun in left, and there’s not really anywhere else to stick a guy like that on an NL team. Cleveland, currently 14 games out of first and dead last in the AL Central, is getting the pieces it needs to rebuild, and getting them more quickly than if they’d had to settle for the compensatory draft picks they’d have gotten if they’d just let CC walk at the end of the season. Perhaps as soon as next year, LaPorta will jump-start their ailing offense by replacing designated hitter Travis Hafner, he of the .350 SLG (now if only they could find a way to dump his salary). And the Brewers, currently tied with St. Louis for second place and 3.5 games behind the first-place Cubs, are getting the ace starting pitcher they’ve missed since Yovani Gallardo’s freak ACL-tearing accident near the start of the season. They’re giving up prospects, but let’s face it—they have plenty of those to spare. And even if they can’t sign C.C. to a long-term deal at the end of the year, they’ll get compensatory picks for him anyway.

Congratulations, Milwaukee, on making a bold and canny move that is exactly what you need.

And Chicago, watch your back.

-What They Need Index-

Sal Fasano, the journeyman catcher whose facial hair promted the formation of one of the most passionate fan groups ever, Sal’s Pals, is back in the bigs.

The Indians acquired Fasano from the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named later. The Indians needed a catcher after the club lost starter Victor Martinez, who is out six to eighth weeks following right elbow surgery on June 13.

What can the Indians expect from Fasano? That depends entirely on which Fasano shows up.

Will the Indians get the fu manchu’d Fasano, the version that fans in Philadelphia and Toronto grew to love? If so, expect fireworks and rioting in the streets.

Will Fasano show up with a mustache similar to the one he donned as a member of the New York Yankees? There’s nothing wrong with a good mustache, as Jason Giambi has clearly demonstrated this season. But Fasano’s stache was just a toned down version of his fu manchu. It was like watching Sex and the City reruns on TBS. You still get the jokes and the plot, but even if you haven’t seen that particular episode before, you know you’re missing something (ie., the cursing and the sex).

Or, will Fasano arrive clean-shaven, like he did in Baltimore? I saw Sal during spring training last year. He was training with the Blue Jays and had shaved his face and nothing, and I mean nothing, is sadder than a clean-shaven Fasano.

Just like Sampson got his power from his hair and Papi gets his power from mango salsa, everyone knows Fasano’s strength lies in his whiskers. Hopefully, after 11 years in professional baseball, Fasano has learned that lesson. The fate of the Indians’ season lies in the balance.

It’s never really fair to expect Cy Young winners to repeat their performances in the upcoming year. Yes, from time to time, they succeed in doing so. But more often than not, there is a bit of a regression because that’s just how baseball works. No matter how good you are, there’s just only so much that you can control. What broke your way one season might not the next. It’s a cruel way of looking at the game, but just like any other sport, there’s just a limit to how good anyone can be on a consistent basis.

With that said, something appears to be wrong with C.C. Sabathia.  It’s not something that’s appearing on the radar gun since, by all accounts, he’s still in his normal mid-90s on fastballs. It’s not something that can be explained away by a diminished strikeout rate because while it is a bit lower than the past couple of years, it’s not out of the norm, especially considering we only have four 2008 starts with which to work. And looking at ESPN.com’s numbers, Sabathia is getting hitters to two strikes as often as he usually does. It’s just that a fewer number of guys are getting to strike three. My bet is that sooner or later, that will correct itself.

But there are some statistical data that ought to raise some eyebrows. On this chart (left), we have some information on Sabathia’s performance over the past three seasons.  Sure, nearly everything there in 2008 looks ugly. But his walks per nine in particular is a cause for concern. Seven walks per nine innings pitched isn’t going to win you many ball games. In 2007, Sabathia walked an amazingly low 37 hitters over 241 innings. He’s up to 14 walks already in 18 innings. You’d have go all the way back to August of 2005 to find a four-game stretch where Sabathia had allowed so many free passes.

Then there’s that homeruns per nine. In ‘06 and ‘07, he posted good numbers here as well, but not so much this year. I usually wouldn’t advocate putting too much stock into this so early in the season. We’re only talking about five dingers here. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be much of a concern since these things do happen. But it is worth mentioning how badly C.C.’s been tagged over these past four starts. And it’s BAD.

So this chart (left) makes sense. The increase in BABiP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) obviously is directly correlated to the batting average. All those walks we just talked about is a big reason why almost 1/2 the guys that Sabathia has faced this year is getting on base.

But aside from that? The stats look like he’s been throwing batting practice. He’s inducing far fewer groundballs than usual, and the line drive percentage shows that he’s getting tattooed, which helps explain the high BABiP as well (that, and suspect defense).

By the way, I don’t mean this to sound like a complaint, but I really want this pitch f/x data to be tabulated and available quicker.  I know it’s an incredibly tedious process and very few people are dedicated enough to do these kinds of things. But I want more information on C.C.’s 2008 than what’s currently available!!! Thank you.

There are two popular explanations here: 1) he’s a free agent at the end of the year and it’s messing with his head, and 2) including the playoffs, he pitched over 256 innings last year and his arm is shot. But I’m not convinced entirely by either argument. For one, Sabathia’s going to get paid no matter what. If this continues, it probably won’t compete with Johan Santana’s deal, but longterm security is still in his future. Maybe it’s because my head can’t wrap around the difference between $70 million and $100 million, but C.C. was reportedly offered something around $70 million for four additional years just a few months ago, and that’s going to buy you some very nice things. As far as last year’s innings totals are concerned, if his arm was indeed shot, then why no drop in velocity (if that is indeed true. Again, pitch f/x would have been useful here. Still not complaining though.)?

Sabathia sounds like he doesn’t know what’s going on either.

“It’s not mechanical. My velocity is fine. I just can’t command both sides of the plate.”

If it’s true that he can’t command both sides of the plate, then isn’t it mechanical?

Simply put, there’s no really obvious explanation here that makes much sense to me.  If I had to guess, despite the fact that he is currently destroying my fantasy season thus far, it is a mechanical problem and those can be righted. So I expect him to be OK soon. But the team should really do their due diligence and ask him to get a physical exam. Guys with his build don’t tend to last very long as elite pitchers.

The Blue Jays debuted their throwback uniforms last night, as they plan to do for every Friday home game this season. Behold:

They look a bit silly, but isn’t that just part of the fun? The Royals have also brought their powder blues back (though only from the waist up). Last year, the Padres busted out their old all-yellow duds. What other teams could bring back some kickass vintage duds? Let’s look at the contenders:

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