One of the biggest trades of the off-season was the New York Mets following up the signing of Frankie Rodriguez by acquiring JJ Putz from the Mariners for a group of players that most Mets fans were glad to see go.  It solidified the Mets bullpen by actually providing the team with two closers with large amounts of success, filling what had been a glaring hole the year before.

Ben Shpiegl posts about a brief evaluation of that trade two + months in, though it really is way too early to really evaluate.  The reason it seems like a good idea is because Putz yesterday went on the DL, expected to miss up to 12 weeks because of an injury which required surgery.  This after months of him “making excuses” why he couldn’t pitch effectively for the New York Mets.

While I am not a fan of making excuses for poor performance, I wanted to take some time here and discuss the JJ Putz situation.  Putz came from Seattle, about as an extreme outpost of MLB as you can find.  Though there are two newspapers there, that makes for probably maximum of 4 beat writers/columnists, plus a few online writers as well on the average day.  They might ask some tough questions, but most likely, because there are so few, you have gotten to know them pretty well and know what to expect and how to answer them. Putz also had a fair amount of success in Seattle, so the questions generally weren’t that tough.  Now you come to New York. Forget the number of fans that are screaming things at you, or booing you…. forget all that.  Imagine you are not haveing success but really struggling.  You come back to your locker and there 15-25 writers/microphones/cameras surrouning you.    They want to know why you are struggling.One reporter asks.  You say you don’t know.  A minute later, another asks in a different way, hoping for a different answer.  You know they need something, so you try to give something a little more, thinking you are helping them out.  A few days go by and the situation is repeating itself.  You are struggling, you don’t know why but 15-20 people are surrounding you and asking you repeatedly why?  You want an answer as much as they do.  You think out loud.  Unfortunately, they write it down and report it.

In Seattle, “I don’t really know” would have been good enough, but here, with so many reporters wanting a better different story, they keep asking the same question, which ups the pressure for one player to have the answers.  These are big tough men, they aren’t used to not knowing.

Putz might have been hurt the whole time.  More than likely though is that he hurt himself in a struggle to do something that would give him success.  The need to do that was, without a doubt, amplified by all those folks standing around his locker asking why and his inability to have a real answer.

Putz will be back.  Hopefully, when he comes back the Mets will be in some sort of shape that he won’t be held responsible for the team’s success or failure.  Hopefully, he will also be in better shape for dealing with the New York media too.