Ben Sheets has drawn interest from Texas, so I guess it's official: He can't pitch anymore.

LAS VEGAS – Baseball’s perennial high-rollers, the New York Yankees, scored the biggest coup of the winter meetings when CC Sabathia reached preliminary agreement on a deal that will pay him $161 million over the next seven years.

The deal, according to a source close to negotiations, gives Sabathia the right to opt out of the contract after the first three years, by which time he will have been paid $69 million. Sabathia appreciated the clause because it satisfied concerns he had about living in New York and the impact it might have on his wife and three children.

He will make his opt-out decision after the 2011 season with four years and $92 million remaining on the deal, at which time he could renegotiate, leave or stay.

Mets get Putz as set-up man in huge trade

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS -- The New York Mets overhauled their much-maligned bullpen with two big moves Wednesday, obtaining J.J. Putz from Seattle as part of a three-team, 12-player trade that gives them a setup man for new closer Francisco Rodriguez.
Hours after completing a $37 million, three-year contract with Rodriguez, New York dealt seven players -- six to the Mariners and one to Cleveland -- to get three back in a huge swap at the winter meetings.
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Putz

<!-- INLINE HEADSHOT (END) -->"All I kept on hearing in the streets of New York when you go get bagels in the morning was, 'Omar, please address the bullpen,'" Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. "Well, to all you Mets fans, we've addressed the bullpen."
New York shipped reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez, lefty Jason Vargas and three minor leaguers to the Mariners for Putz, center fielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green in the first trade by new Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik.
Promising outfielder Franklin Gutierrez was sent from the Indians to Seattle. Cleveland got reliever Joe Smith from the Mets and 23-year-old second baseman Luis Valbuena from the Mariners.
"It helps all of us," Zduriencik said.
Law: Mets Win Big

If J.J. Putz is healthy, the Mets got one of the best closers on the market ... again, Keith Law writes. Blog


An All-Star in 2007 when he saved 40 games, Putz was 6-5 with a 3.88 ERA and 15 saves in 23 chances last season when he missed long stretches with ribcage and elbow injuries. But Minaya wasn't concerned about the pitcher's health, saying New York had a scout at his final game of the season and Putz maintained a 98-99 mph velocity.
Before the trade was announced, Putz's agent, Craig Landis, said the right-hander wanted to remain a closer. But Minaya said he spoke with Putz, who was excited about his new team and role.
"It's about winning championships," Minaya said. "I've always said it's about the team and putting teams first and going for that ring. To win, you've got to sacrifice yourself."
The Indians had been interested in acquiring Putz before nearing a two-year contract with free-agent closer Kerry Wood, who needed to take a physical before that deal could be finalized.
Once the Indians closed in on Wood, the three-team trade came together quickly.
"We dealt from an area of depth," Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro said, referring to his club's young outfielders.
The key to the deal for Seattle was Gutierrez, who batted .248 with eight homers and 41 RBIs. A skilled defender, he played right field in Cleveland because the Indians have All-Star Grady Sizemore in center.
"That's one of the things that we wanted to do is make our defense stronger," Zduriencik said. "I think it's helped us shore up our prospect status."
Zduriencik said it was uncertain who would close for Seattle and too early to determine what role Heilman would have.
Heilman was inconsistent in his setup role with the Mets and would prefer to be a starter. He was 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA last season and was among the bullpen culprits as New York folded in September for the second straight season.
When Billy Wagner got hurt, the rest of the relievers struggled as they tried to adjust to different roles.
"We've proven that sometimes, unfortunately, one closer is not enough," Minaya said.
Smith, a submarine-style right-hander who gets plenty of grounders, was 6-3 with a 3.55 ERA.
"Joe Smith clearly goes right in the major league bullpen as a guy we've had long-term interest in," Shapiro said. "A different look, complements our 'pen well. We think he can be an important part of the back end of a 'pen."
The three minor leaguers New York sent to Seattle were first baseman Mike Carp, right-hander Maikel Cleto and outfielder Ezequiel Carrera.
Putz will earn $5.3 million next season, and the Mets inherit an $8.9 million option for 2010 with a $1 million buyout. New York had 29 blown saves in 72 chances this year, and its 4.25 bullpen ERA ranked 13th in the NL.
"To get one closer like Frankie would have been a good winter. I think to get two guys like this is a great winter," Minaya said.

Sabathia appreciated the clause because it satisfied concerns he had about living in New York and the impact it might have on his wife and three children.

Mets now have terrific twosome in 'pen

By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
(Archive)

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<!-- end story header --> <!-- begin left column --> <!-- begin page tools --> Updated: December 11, 2008

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<!-- end page tools --> <!-- begin story body --> <!-- template inline -->LAS VEGAS -- The New York Mets of 2008 didn't just have a closer problem. They had a bullpen problem.
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Become an Insider, and you can watch the entire Baseball Tonight Hot Stove Special that aired Wednesday.</td></tr></tbody></table> <!-- end table -->
<!-- end whole table --> The Mets of 2008 didn't just have a ninth-inning problem. They had a how-the-heck-do-we-get-to-the-ninth-inning problem. Well, not anymore. Now, after a stunning 12-player, three-team, winter meetings megadeal Wednesday night, the Mets have transformed their bullpen and transformed themselves. J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez aren't merely an upgrade on Luis Ayala and Duaner Sanchez/Aaron Heilman/Scott Schoeneweis/insert your favorite other Mets setup villain here. J.J. Putz and K-Rod are an upgrade on everybody's eighth-and-ninth-inning bullpen-assassin combo. [+] Enlarge
Paul Jasienski/Getty Images
J.J. Putz struck out 56 batters in 46 1/3 innings with the Mariners last season.


Who beats that tag team? "Nobody," said one longtime talent evaluator Wednesday night. "To me, they're the best. And they're not just a great duo. They're a strikeout duo, too. There won't be many balls in play when those two guys are out there. As big as strikeouts are in the ninth inning, sometimes they're even bigger in the eighth." True facts: K-Rod averaged 10.14 strikeouts per nine innings this season. Putz, even in a down year, averaged 10.88 whiffs per nine innings. And that was in the American League, where the lineups run nine deep. Only two National League teams had a closer-setup combo in which each pitcher racked up that high a punch-out rate in 2008 -- the Cubs (Kerry Wood/Carlos Marmol) and the Dodgers (Takashi Saito/Jonathan Broxton/Hong-Chih Kuo). Not coincidentally, those staffs ranked third and first, respectively, in the league in bullpen ERA. But now Wood is gone in Chicago. Saito is hurt in L.A. And it's the Mets who have assumed the throne. We asked around Wednesday night in a lobby packed with baseball people. Nobody could come up with an eighth-inning/ninth-inning combo as formidable as the Mets' new twosome. The reason is simple. As long as these two are healthy, there isn't a better tandem. "They can play a 21-out game now," the same evaluator said of the Mets. "I give them a lot of credit. They just made a $13 million investment [in K-Rod], and now they've bolstered it with a character guy whose character is so good, he'll be willing to pitch the eighth inning." Putz, of course, will have to be healthier than he was in 2008, when his 3.88 ERA was nearly triple his 1.38 mark in '07. But if he is, he changes the Mets' whole persona.
Just consider the bullpen disaster that did in this team this season:

• The Mets were 13th in the league in ERA from the seventh inning on and 13th in bullpen ERA overall.
• They blew 29 saves -- second most in the National League, behind St. Louis.
• They gave up 61 home runs from the seventh inning on, tied with the Giants for the most in the league.

And those aren't even the most devastating numbers that defined the Mets' season. Consider these numbers:

• If all games had ended after six innings this season, the Mets would have finished the year 11 games ahead of the Phillies (aka, the team that won the World Series).
• If all games had ended after seven innings, the Mets would have finished six games ahead of the Phillies.
• And if all games had even been just eight innings long instead of nine, the Mets would have finished five games ahead of the Phillies.

But the rules are the rules. And the rules say they had to play all nine. And it was those final innings that crushed the Mets. The Phillies lost no games they led after eight innings. The Mets lost seven of them -- and lost 13 games they led after seven innings. That's how seasons slip away. That's how one fatal flaw can undermine everyone and everything. That was the story of the 2008 Mets. So one miraculous trade later, this doesn't just look like a whole new bullpen. It looks like a whole new team.