The New York Mets traded southpaw Steven Matz for the Toronto Blue Jays as part of a four-player deal. The Blue Jays announced the exchange on Wednesday night.
The deal, which opens up a spot in the Mets rotation and pays Matz’s $ 5.2 million salary for 2021, may presage a more serious search for NL Cy Young’s free and winning agent, Trevor Bauer.
Matz, 29, is coming out of an abbreviated 2020 season, in which he fought to the tune of 9.68 ERA in 30 2/3 innings. Matz managed to allow 14 home runs in that period. Throughout his career, he has been an average starting pitcher, with 91 ERA + and 3.07 K / BB in parts of six major league seasons. Matz has a long history of elbow and shoulder problems, and has never before achieved a number of qualifying entries in one season. That said, Blue Jays, as praisingly active as they were in this off-season, need depth of rotation, and Matz meets that need.
Josh Winckowski is one of the players who will return to the Mets in the deal. Winckowski, 22, is a former 15th-round player who has an ERA ratio of 3.35 and a K / BB of 2.76 in four secondary league seasons. Of its 54 games launched on the smaller ones, 50 have been started. Right-handed Sean Reid-Foley (age 25, 4.4 ERA and K / BB ratio 1.58 in 13 MLB matches and eight relief appearances) and right-handed Yennsy Diaz (24, No. 26 on the MLB Jays list .with potential customers) also target Mets in commerce.
As noted above, Mets may be cleaning the decks for a possible Bauer subscription. The 30-year-old Bauer is by far the most coveted arm in the 2020-21 free agent market, and its addition to the rotation behind ace Jacob deGrom would be of great benefit to the Mets’ hopes for 2021 and beyond.
By the way, SNY Andy Martino reports that Mets’ offer to Bauer is four years or less and not at levels that would set the record for highest annual salary (currently $ 36 million from Gerrit Cole). However, according to Martino, the offer includes at least one opt-out, which would affect Bauer’s possible desire to sign short-term deals. Given the turmoil, Mets’ willingness to invest in new owner Steve Cohen’s lineup, and now Matz’s switch, they should be considered the pioneers of Bauer’s services.