On Thursday night the San Francisco Giants traded their closer Armando Benitez to his former team the Florida Marlins for Randy Messenger. Benitez was heavily rumored to go to the Marlins during the off-season. His recent meltdown against the Mets on Wednesday night may have been the straw that broke Giants’ general manager Brian Sabean’s back. He balked twice in a save situation, and the Mets would go on to win the game in walk off home run fashion. He wore out his welcome in San Francisco early this year, being booed on a regular basis from Giants fans.

“I think we exercised as much patience and as much professional courtesy as we could,” said Giants general manager Brian Sabean. “I don’t take any satisfaction in anyone’s demise or inability to do their job. He was strong enough to be the whipping boy. We’re at a crossroads in my minds. We’ll see who’s strong enough to be the whipping boy now.”

I don’t know if this was a good move to make. Benitez is an established closer. Yes, he has been known to have meltdowns on the mound. But this is a Giants team that is built to win now. This is a giants team that spent 126 million dollars to bring in lefty ace Barry Zito. Bringing in 25 year old Randy Messenger, with no experience as a closer, would not help this team win any more than Benitez.

The Florida Marlins has many players destined for All Star games in the future. but right now they are a sloppy, young baseball team that needs to learn the game. Armando Benitez is 35 years old, and cannot stay calm in potentially dangerous situations on the mound. He would not provide a very good example to this young Marlins team, and this takes the closer job away from Henry Owens who, prior to going on the 15 day DL, was 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA.

Brian Sabean may be trying to change the Giants’ losing ways, but this trade doesn’t seem to make much sense. the Marlins need to develop younger talent, and the Giants could have stuck with Benitez, we’re just 52 games into the season. There may come a situation where San Francisco needs an established closer on the mound.