"The Mets officially welcomed their new closer, Francisco Rodríguez, on Wednesday, giving him a team jacket and parading him around Citi Field. Accomplishing his primary off-season objective excited General Manager Omar Minaya, whose promised remodeling of his pitching staff is coming quickly and in reverse order.

On Wednesday night, Minaya completed a three-team, 12-player trade with Seattle and Cleveland that netted Mariners closer J. J. Putz. The right-handed Putz, who will be 32 in February, will set up Rodríguez to form one of the most imposing late-inning combinations in baseball.

"All I kept hearing on the streets of New York when I go get bagels in the morning, 'Omar, address the bullpen,' " Minaya said. "Well, to you, Mets fans, we've addressed the bullpen."

The Mets also received Jeremy Reed, an outfielder, and Sean Green, a right-handed reliever, from Seattle. In the first step of their bullpen purge, the Mets sent relievers Joe Smith to Cleveland and Aaron Heilman to Seattle, which will also receive from the Mets outfielder Endy Chávez, pitcher Jason Vargas, the minor league first baseman Mike Carp, the minor league pitcher Maikel Cleto and the minor league outfielder Ezequiel Carrera.

In less than 48 hours, the Mets have secured the American League West's two most dominant relievers to significantly reshape a bullpen that was their leading weakness last season - for a (relative) pittance. They dealt the underperforming Heilman, , who could benefit from a change of scenery; a right-handed specialist in Smith; a reserve outfielder in Chávez; and a first-base prospect in Carp who had been passed by Daniel Murphy in the organizational hierarchy.

Heilman, a dominant setup man during the Mets' playoff run in 2006, symbolized their bullpen problems last season. He struggled from the outset and never found his rhythm, allowing 10 homers and posting a career-high earned run average as a reliever, 5.21. Chávez, who will forever be adored by Mets fans for his spectacular catch in Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series, had trouble consistently cracking the outfield rotation despite an abundance of injuries to Mets outfielders."