The New York Mets have been one of the hottest teams in all of Major League Baseball and had a clear weakness to address in their bullpen. However, the team was able to make a trade on Tuesday evening to address the bullpen woes as they were able to trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Mets traded a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Rays in exchange for right-handed reliever Phil Maton. Maton has been struggling a bit this season as in 40 games he is 1-2 with a 4.58 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP in 35.1 innings.
Let’s take a deeper dive into what this means for the New York Mets and the Tampa Bay Rays going forward.
What does this trade mean for the New York Mets?
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The New York Mets have been battling to be one of the NL Wild Card teams as they are 44-45 as of this writing. Their bullpen has some decent pitchers like closer Edwin Diaz and reliever Adam Ottavino to name a few. However, the Mets have failed to really get enough strong performances out of their relief pitching as they rank 16th in Major League Baseball with a 4.13 reliever ERA.
This trade does not hurt the team in the slightest as they traded a player to be named later or cash for Phil Maton, who is on a one-year contract right now. This does not take away anything for what the New York Mets are able to do at the trade deadline to continue making this team a perennial playoff contender.
As a result of this trade, Joey Lucchesi was designated for assignment. Getting a veteran reliever who has playoff experience with the Houston Astros and Cleveland Guardians is a great pick up by New York Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns. While Maton is not a dominating reliever and has been struggling a bit this season for Tampa Bay, this is definitely a strong addition to have in lieu of an inexperienced pitcher in middle relief appearances down the stretch.
It also signals the Rays want to trade away expiring contracts, which could be them waving the white flag as the deadline approaches.
About the Author
Vincent Pensabene graduated from Saint Leo University in 2019 with a B.A. in Sport Business and has focused on the media side of sports. He writes for multiple publications and is interested in the reasoning of why things happen. Feel free to follow him on social media @TalkVinTalk and discuss all things sports.
