First, let's not bury the lede. Scratch J.J. Putz off the list for potential Tigers closers next season. In an apparent effort to build the best bullpen ever, the New York Mets acquired Putz as part of a three-way trade with the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians.
Here are the complete details of the deal from MLB.com's Jim Street. The Mariners get Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, and Mike Carp from the Mets, along with Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians. That probably tops whatever the Tigers may have offered, even if Matt Joyce was part of any potential deal.
But a refusal to include Joyce in a package to Seattle seems to have collapsed another three-way trade that the Tigers would have been involved in, along with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Here's the scuttlebutt from the Seattle Times' Geoff Baker:
In that proposal, the Tigers would have kicked first baseman Jeff Larish into the pot, but not outfielder Matt Joyce. No word on whether the Rays would have sent someone to Seattle, but the M's wound up walking away. At that point, the Tigers turned around and dealt Joyce to the Rays for starter Edwin Jackson.
This doesn't exactly bring clarity to a trade I'm still conflicted over, however. Joyce was too valuable to trade for a badly needed closer, yet dealing him for a middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher (which I concede that the Tigers might need, as well) seemed preferable? Am I missing something here?