Closer Putz, setup man Reitsma to anchor Mariners 'pen
In all honesty, J.J. Putz said he never wanted to be the Mariners' closer -- at least not the way that Putz inherited the job from one of his best friends, Eddie Guardado.
Putz was perfectly content with his role setting up Guardado early last season. But when Guardado suffered his third blown save of the season on May 3, manager Mike Hargrove removed Guardado as the closer.
Enter Putz, who went from a relatively anonymous role to one of the most feared closers in baseball with a 36-save effort over the final five months of the season that included a numbing 104 strikeouts against only 13 walks in a career-high 72 games.
"J.J. Putz was one of the great stories of the 2006 baseball season," general manager Bill Bavasi said. "He took over the closer's role and was simply dominant. When he was called on, he really thrived in that ninth-inning pressure."
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