Baseball | Ex-Mariners reliever J.J. Putz files for free agency

NEW YORK — Reliever J.J. Putz, previously with the New York Mets, and Minnesota Twins pitcher Carl Pavano filed for free agency Saturday.

Putz became a free agent one day after the Mets declined his $9.1 million option and chose to pay a $1 million buyout.

Putz, 32, pitched in 308 games for the Mariners from 2003 through 2008. He had a 5.22 earned-run average in 29 appearances for the Mets.

A total of 120 players have filed for free agency since the World Series, and about 60 more are potentially eligible to file by the Nov. 19 deadline.

Meanwhile, Minnesota exercised a $10.5 million option for 2011 on outfielder Michael Cuddyer, who hit a career-high 32 homers last season and drove in 94 runs. The option is part of a contract Cuddyer signed in 2008 that will pay him $33.5 million over four years.

If the Twins had declined the option, they would have owed a $1 million buyout.

The National League champion Philadelphia Phillies revealed three players will have operations in the next week.

Closer Brad Lidge will have surgery Wednesday to remove a loose body from his right elbow, and team physician Dr. Michael Ciccotti will evaluate his right flexor/pronator tendon.

On Monday, outfielder Raul Ibanez — an ex-Mariner — will have a sports hernia repaired and pitcher Scott Eyre will have loose bodies removed from his left elbow.

Lidge led the majors with 11 blown saves this season but was better in the playoffs as the Phillies reached the World Series before losing to the Yankees in six games.

Ibanez hit a career-high 34 homers in his first season with Philadelphia.

Eyre had a 1.50 ERA in 42 games.

Note

• The Yomiuri Giants defeated the Nippon Ham Fighters 2-0 to win the Japan Series in six games.

Catcher Shinnosuke Abe drove in the winning run in Game 6.

Abe doubled over the head of center fielder Yoshio Itoi to give Yomiuri a 1-0 lead in the second inning at Sapporo Dome. Tetsuya Matsumoto hit a two-out single and scored on an error in the sixth inning to close out scoring.

It was the first Japan Series title in seven years for the Giants.