From Seattle to Cincinnati, closing time for Guardado

Eddie Guardado will be missed — I have as much affection for him as any player I've covered in the past 20 years — but his trade is a good thing.

For both sides.

In Cincinnati, Guardado gets to close again. He believes deeply he can still do the job — so deeply that he never came to terms with manager Mike Hargrove's decision to yank the job from him in Chicago in early May and give it to J.J. Putz.

Guardado seemed to believe, first, that Hargrove gave up on him too soon and, second, that he came to be used mainly in "garbage" situations as he tried to re-establish himself. He told one person that he felt like he was the team's 10-run-rule pitcher.

It got to the point that Guardado seethed over virtually everything Hargrove did, such as telling reporters that he was still the closer in name. One friend said Guardado was upset one night when he was told he was the closer for that game because Putz needed a rest; but when the other team rallied late, it was Putz who was told to get up.

To his credit, Guardado remained supportive of Putz, a good buddy of his, and he never asked for a trade. His steadfast stance was that he wasn't a quitter, and he wanted to make it work in Seattle, not run away from the situation.

That said, Guardado badly needed a change of scenery, and his relationship with Hargrove was becoming toxic enough that it was healthiest for all concerned to move on.

While Guardado is an outstanding clubhouse presence, a life-of-the-party guy known for his pranks and camaraderie, he became increasingly sullen in the aftermath of losing his closing job.

It wasn't a case, I feel, of Guardado being selfish. He simply felt he had failed, let the team down, and he was hurting. He was agonizing over his place on the Mariners, and in baseball — only natural for a 35-year-old who has been pitching for the past two years with a torn rotator cuff, not to mention fighting through a bum knee.

As Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said Thursday, you can't fault someone for caring about his job.

"He handled himself great," Bavasi said. "I have no problems with the way he handled things. The guy was not at all happy about being taken out of that role, and thank God he felt that way."

The decision to replace Guardado, however, has proven to be the right one. Putz has become an overpowering closer. While one could argue that he would be just as invaluable as a setup man to a revived Guardado, it would have been exceedingly difficult, to the point of foolhardy, for the Mariners to have taken Putz out of a role in which he has been dominant.

Guardado's game has always been about guts as much as stuff. At his peak, he had a presence on the mound, a demeanor that said, "You aren't going to beat me."

He once told me, "All the good ones, they've got that edge. You can't put a finger on it. It's not like they don't give a damn; they do. But when they take it out there, it's like, 'Here it is. Hit it. See what happens.'

"I think that's a big part of being a closer: attitude. It's all about heart."

It worked brilliantly for Guardado, a two-time All-Star who was the closer for two division-winning Twins teams. But at some point, a bulldog attitude and heart ceases to be enough, and the Mariners had reason to fear, after a series of blown and near-blown saves, that he had reached that point.

Guardado never believed it, and now he'll get his chance to show the Mariners, and everyone else, what he has left.

In fact, in Cincinnati, where the bullpen has been atrocious, he is being viewed as a savior. The Reds have had a series of meltdowns that cost David Weathers and Todd Coffey the closing job. When news of the Guardado trade drifted to the players on Thursday, Ken Griffey Jr. reportedly was high-fiving teammates.

Guardado now has a chance to go into Cincinnati, and into the Reds' cozy new ballpark (ominously cozy for a guy who has given up eight homers in 23 innings this year), and provide a huge lift for a team that believes it's a playoff contender.

I hope he runs off 20 saves in a row. But regardless of what happens to Travis Chick, the pitching prospect the Mariners received, that wouldn't make it a bad trade for Seattle.

Because for Eddie Guardado, it wasn't going to happen here.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com