Putz Trade Not Very Puzzling

Mariners' closer J.J. Putz was traded yesterday to the New York Mets in a three-team, twelve-player arrangement which brings seven scrubby players to Seattle in return. Putz was a former All-Star with the M's and professed to be shocked at the move. But we aren't at all surprised. As the old baseball saying goes (and baseball is full of them): "the closer is the last piece of the puzzle in a championship team." With this move, GM Jack Zduriencik has quietly put all the remaining jigsaw pieces back in the box, and has begun shaking the hell out it, bringing to a close any title hopes in the 2009 season before it even started. Meanwhile, the New York media begins to salivate at the headline-writing options.