J.J. Putz: 2009's first pie thrower

Early in 2009, a 32-year-old pitcher new to New York with initials for his first name introduced pies in the face to an often-tense clubhouse. His new team, which had finished a disappointing 89-73 in 2008, missing the playoffs, would do far differently in 2009.

They would win 70 games.

That's right - A.J. Burnett was not the only pie thrower in New York this year. (And yes, as hard as it is to believe now, the Mets and Yankees did have the same record only a year ago.)

Early in spring training, new Met J.J. Putz hit SNY' s Kevin Burkhardt in the face with a pie.

MetsBlog's Matthew Cerrone posted the video here:

At the time, Cerrone wrote of Putz:

his attitude in the clubhouse, the way he keeps people loose and having fun, and it's a big reason why he was acquired, because it is believed he can have a positive impact on the clubhouse for a team that is often tight when playing under pressure…

Putz and Cerrone had the right idea. But Burnett was the one who took this concept all the way to November, while Putz did not make it past the first week of June.

The three-way trade for Putz was one of the highlights of last year's offseason for Mets fans. Little did we know at the time that Omar Minaya was trading for damaged goods.

With Putz signing with the White Sox and Jeremy Reed probably not coming back, all Minaya has to show for the trade now is Sean Green.

It is too bad that the Mets never got a chance to see what a healthy Putz could do.

But it is probably just as well that Putz' pie-throwing was curtailed. Because the way things went last season, one of those pies in the face probably would have resulted in some sort of injury and would have been played endlessly on YouTube.

Putz is no Bastardo

When J.J. Putz nearly blew Sunday's game against the Marlins, the fans sitting next to me were screaming at Putz, mispronouncing his name of course. I wondered if these fans had pronounced his name correctly when he was going better.

But after giving up four straight hits in the eighth tonight against the Pirates to blow the lead and the game, Putz will be lucky if any Met fan uses the proper pronunciation. Whether he is hurt, tipping his pitches, or just pitching like a..., Putz can't pitch in the eighth until he and the Mets figure it out.

And now Putz will not even have the most distinctive name among NL East pitchers. The Phillies are bringing up one of their top pitching prospects from Triple A to start Tuesday night in San Diego, replacing the injured Brett Myers. His name is Antonio Bastardo.

Phillie fans have formed fan clubs based on players' names. Randy Wolf had the Wolfpack, Sal Fasano had Sal's Pals and Chase Utley has Chase's Chicks. I wonder what they will come up with if their new pitcher becomes a fan favorite? Perhaps something based on the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film "Inglourious Basterds."

Soon the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love will be able to say they booed Santa Claus and cheered a Bastardo.

Bastardo was pitching in Triple A for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Pro baseball is glamorous for some, while others have IronPigs on the front of their jersey and Bastardo on the back.

(Speaking of jerseys, Squawker Lisa, both the Mets and Yankees allow you to personalize your jersey with "Bastardo.")

If Bastardo were not a Phillie, I would be rooting for him. Forget about voting for Manny for the All-Star Game - I want to see Bastardo!

The 2007 All-Star game did include Putz. Let's hope he can regain that form and Met fans can go back to pronouncing his name correctly.

If only all Met injuries were phantom

In another era, Jose Reyes might have been benched after his misadventures on the basepaths earlier this week. But while Jerry Manuel did not bench the sensitive Reyes, it's an intereresting coincidence that Reyes, who never misses a game, suddenly came up with an injury that kept him out of the lineup last night.

I'm not enough of a conspiracy theorist to think it was anything other than a coincidence that the Mets also set a team record for stolen bases with seven with Reyes out of the lineup, though Manuel did seem quite pleased to mention that fact after the game.

ESPN's Jayson Stark recently wrote about the suspicious use of the disabled list for players such as Oliver Perez and Chien-Ming Wang. I hope something similar has happened with Reyes, because it would be great for Manuel to send him a message. And it would be a lot better than if Reyes actually were injured.

It was disappointing to hear J.J. Putz say the other day that he was having trouble pitching the eighth inning because he did not have the same adrenaline that he had as a closer. Billy Wagner used to make the same sort of excuses about non-save situations.

The role of closer is the only one in baseball in which players can get away with this sort of nonsense. Imagine if a Met position player said that he did not do as well at the plate in the early innings because he had more adrenaline in late-inning pressure situations. (Actually, until recently, it would be hard to imagine a Met batter saying that - it's good to see them starting to come through in those situations.)

Bobby Parnell took over Putz' eighth-inning role and blew the lead. Maybe Putz will start to appreciate that the setup role is also very valuable and challenging.

Or maybe Putz was hiding an injury, now that it has been announced that he has elbow problems. If only this injury were a phantom one - complaining about the eighth inning seems minor by comparison.

Putz has also pitched in 19 of the Mets' first 34 games.

The Met announcers call Pedro Feliciano "Perpetual Pedro" because he seems to pitch or warm up every day, but Putz has the same number of appearances as Feliciano - they have both been in 19 of the Mets' 34 games. And Putz has pitched 20 innings to Feliciano's 14 2/3.

Maybe another use of phantom injuries could be to prevent Manuel from burning out his bullpen and turning them into real injuries.

On a related note, it was great to see Manuel allow John Maine to throw 118 pitches and not come out until there were two outs in the seventh. That's the way to start easing stress on the pen.

If only Carlos Delgado had a phantom injury and not a hip that could require surgery. If it turns out that both Delgado and Putz are out for any length of time, the Mets may regret including 22-year-old first baseman Mike Carp in the Putz deal. Carp is hitting well in the minors and could be called up soon by Seattle.

From Soup to Putz

Squawker Lisa, I see you've named the new Yankee pitchers Alphabet Soup because they are CC and A.J. But the Mets also introduced a new pitcher Thursday, J.J. Putz., so you can't have Alphabet Soup all to yourself. Instead, how about these soup-related nicknames for your new pitchers: Chicken Soup for the always-ailing Burnett and Souper-Size for Sabathia.

And here's a nickname for Yankee fans after they shell out for tickets to the new Yankee Stadium: Soup Kitchen.

I also had some suggestions for numbers for the new Yanks, if only these numbers were not retired. Sabathia could have worn 3 for the number of years after which he can opt out of his contract. Also, his body type is similar to the Babe's. Burnett could have worn 10, for the number of times he has been on the disabled list.

And Lisa, I'm just fine with calling Francisco Rodriguez K-Rod instead of F-Rod. After all, Dwight Gooden wasn't called Dr. G. (That would have sounded like a weatherman or a dermatologist in subway ads.)

As for Sabathia saying he got chills when telling his real estate agent that he is a Yankee, I suspect it was really the other way around!

Only the Yankees could take the two biggest signings of the free-agent season in terms of contract size and combine them into one news conference. What, they didn't want to spring for a second carving board? Even the Mets had two separate welcomes for K-Rod and Putz.

If Putz sticks with number 40 (there was a report that he might try to get 20 from Howard Johnson), that number could have a couple of meanings. 40 is the number of saves Putz had in 2007, the year he made the All-Star team. And 40 is the number of games the Mariners were under .500 in 2008, when they went 61-101, and why I believe him when he says he's happy to be a setup man for a contender.

Finally, Lisa, thanks for ruining my night by letting me know that mlb.com's "Moment of the Year" was Derek Jeter's speech after the last game played at the old Yankee Stadium.

Look, even I think it was a special day, but did the 2008 Yankees really need to take a victory lap around the Stadium? After all, it was the last game only because they were missing the playoffs after 13 straight appearances.

I suppose we shouldn't take this list all that seriously, considering that second place went to something that happened in the Home Run Derby. But as long as the voters don't seem interested in things that actually happened during a game, goodness gracious, where's Roger Clemens testifying before Congress?

On CC's rider and the Melkman delivering Mike Cameron to the Yankees

The baseball hot stove is bubbling over with a plethora of signings and trades. So there's a lot to squawk about. Let's get it started.

The latest news out of Yankeeland is that Melky Cabrera is set to go to Milwaukee for Mike Cameron. So much for the Yanks' youth movement, eh? The Bergen Record is reporting the following:

On the condition of anonymity, the source said the Yankees would be willing to extend Cameron to a two-year contract through the 2010 season. The Brewers had picked up Cameron’s 2009 option for $10 million, and a two-year deal with the Yanks could be worth about $17 million total.

How Melky Cabrera sunk from being one of the more pleasurable players to watch on the Yanks over the past few seasons to being the easiest out on the roster is a big mystery to me. But what's even more head-scratching is why the Yanks would even consider extending Mike Cameron's contract, given that he's nearly 36 now. Not to mention what will happen to Brett Gardner. What, exactly, is to be gained in giving Cameron another year?

Speaking of head-scratching moves, why the Yankees are even thinking about signing A.J. Burnett is beyond me, let alone offering him $80 million, considering they've already been burned by one injury-prone former Marlin pitcher with Carl Pavano. (Of course, the Red Sox didn't get burned by their own injury-prone former Marlin pitcher, Josh Beckett, but I digress!)

It's strange times to think that I would prefer Derek Lowe to Burnett and Sheets, but I do. At least Lowe is a healthy big-game pitcher (albeit one who makes those, well, Derek Lowe faces when things go wrong!) Don't think Derek is worth a four-year, $66 million deal, though.

And yes, the numbers the Yanks are willing to shell out this year are simply mind-boggling. Given 1) the recession we're currently in, and 2) the fact that the Yanks just went back to the city of New York to beg for more cash for their stadium, I have to say that even this Yankee fan finds these contract numbers a bit unseemly and over the top. Don't mean to get all Joe Hill here, but there it is.

Oprah Winfrey toned down her yearly Favorite Things extravaganza to reflect the economic realities this country is facing. Not the Yanks. A few days ago, I thought that $10 million for Andy Pettitte was reasonable. But given the money the Bombers are willing to throw around this week, that figure now looks awfully cheap.

Am I happy the Yanks got CC Sabathia? Of course. He's a heck of a pitcher. But I am a bit concerned that they overpaid for him, given that they were essentially bidding against themselves. And his three-year opt out clause worries me - if he's already planning an escape hatch before he's even come to New York, that's a real concern. He does seem like a very likeable guy, though - hopefully he'll fit right in with the Yanks, pitch great, and all these concerns will be moot next year.

While the Yanks are on a spending spree, the Mets are making deals, like getting J.J. Putz. Congrats, Squawker Jon - your team's bullpen looks pretty awesome. And in keeping with that era of good feeling. I'm going to resist making a joke about your new reliever's last name!

* * *

I was on three radio programs over the course of 23 hours squawking about the winter meetings, and I had a terrific time on all three shows. Thanks to Dos Amigos, Sound-Off with Sinkoff, and NYBaseball Digest for having me on.

Coming later today, my thoughts on where Manny Ramirez will end up. But in the meantime, tell us what you think about all these moves.

Omar Minaya Putz finishing touches on new pen

In the 2007 All-Star Game, Francisco Rodriguez got the save. His setup man was fellow star closer J.J. Putz. Such dream combinations usually happen only in All-Star games. But this one is now a main feature of the 2009 Mets.

In the words of another J.J. from an old TV show: Dyn-o-mite! For Omar Minaya and the Mets, not to mention Johan Santana, who no longer has to pitch a complete game to assure himself of a win, these are certainly good times.

Getting a strong setup man was just as important as landing a top closer. With the Mets talking up budget constraints, I didn't have much hope that they could land a second good reliever, much less one who had been an All-Star closer just two seasons ago. Especially when the Mets were dangling the likes of Aaron Heilman in hopes of landing Huston Street from the Rockies.

Now the Mets, with a package featuring Heilman, have turned the bullpen from a weakness to a strength.

While Putz struggled with injuries in 2008, and, as Big League Stew points out, blew eight saves in 23 chances, he's at least as good a bet to do well next year as other available closers Brian Fuentes and Kerry Wood. Over the last three seasons, Putz had 91 saves, while Fuentes had 80. And while Wood was healthy with 34 saves in 2008, he only pitched a total of 44 innings the previous two seasons.

And Putz isn't even the Mets' closer - he's the setup man! Dyn-o-mite!

I'm sorry to see Endy Chavez and Joe Smith go, and Aaron Heilman may just need a change of scenery, but the Mets didn't really give up that much at the major league level. Mike Carp and the other prospects are just that at this point - prospects.

But when Metsblog.com quoted Indians GM Mark Shapiro as saying the three-team deal came together quickly and "what I hope is that we’re all feeling good about it a year from now,” I couldn't help but think of the last time I was so excited about a trade involving the Mets and the Indians. It was one of the first moves Shapiro made as Indians GM - the December 2001 trade of Roberto Alomar to the Mets. A year later, nobody was feeling good about that one!

And as for that 2007 All-Star Game, the full story turned out to be more like the Mets' 2008 bullpen misadventures. After Putz struck out Matt Holliday and got Brian McCann to pop out, he was only one out away from a save. But Dmitri Young singled and Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer off of Putz to cut the lead to 5-4.

So K-Rod was brought in to get the final out. But he walked Derrek Lee and Orlando Hudson to load the bases before getting Aaron Rowand to fly out to end the game.

See, these guys will fit right in on the Mets!

By the way, Putz and the AL had a three-run cushion in the ninth because one of the National League All-Star closers had given up a two-run homer to Victor Martinez the inning before. And that closer was, you guessed it, Billy Wagner. (Martinez, incidentally, was pinch-hitting for Santana.)

When Wagner helped blow that All-Star game, I was angry at the time that the Mets had missed out on possible home field advantage in the World Series. They ended up not having to worry about that in 2007 or 2008. There is stil work to be done, but the way this offseason is going so far, the Mets may have good reason to take an interest in the outcome of next year's All-Star game.