Cleveland traded him midway through the following season. Following his departure from Cleveland, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners, but without much success. In 2001, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and enjoyed a two-year run of success. However, in 2003 his ERA more than doubled, and he was granted free agency at the end of the season. He spent 2004 and 2005 pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and pitched for the Colorado Rockies in 2006. On December 10, , he signed with the Detroit Tigers. He was released by the team on June 3, . In 16 appearances with the team, he was 1-1 with a 12.34 ERA. On June 8, 2007 he signed a minor league deal with the Phillies. He appeared in 40 games for the Phillies, compiling a 1-2 record with a 5.54 ERA, and retired following the 2007 season. Highlights American League All-Star (twice, 1995–96) Relief Man of the Year Award (1995) TSN Reliever of the Year Award (1995) Led AL in saves (46, 1995) Led AL in games finished (57, 1995) His 321 career saves rank him 13th on the all-time list His 112 career saves ranks second all-time in Philadelphia Phillies history Controversies Mesa was involved in a longstanding feud with former teammate Omar Vizquel following the publication of Vizquel's autobiography, Omar! My Life On and Off the Field. In the book, Vizquel criticized Mesa's performance in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, in which Mesa came in with the Indians leading 2-1 and 3 outs away from their first championship in 49 years, only to blow the save and allow Florida to tie the game: "The eyes of the world were focused on every move we made. Unfortunately, Jose's own eyes were vacant. Completely empty. Nobody home. You could almost see right through him. Not long after I looked into his vacant eyes, he blew the save and the Marlins tied the game." Mesa reacted furiously, pledging to hit Vizquel upon every subsequent opportunity: "Even my little boy told me to get him. If I face him 10 more times, I'll hit him 10 times. I want to kill him." By the end of the 2007 season, Mesa had hit Vizquel on three separate occasions. Vizquel expressed regret in 2014 about what happened due to his comments about Mesa (which he also stated were misinterpreted) but Mesa