There was growing buzz yesterday morning that the New York Mets would find a trade partner for disgruntled former ace Matt Harvey. The Mets even believed they could land a catcher in talks for Harvey, which seemed like a pipe dream for a pitcher with an ERA well over five since the start of the 2016 season. Imagine the surprise most people felt when this trade dropped about a half hour before first pitch of last night’s game between the Mets and Cincinnati Reds.
Getting anything of value was going to be a win for the Mets, but the fact they were able to land a functioning big league catcher is a huge win for General Manager Sandy Alderson. Devin Mesoraco was an All Star in 2014, when he batted .273 with 25 homers and 80 RBI’s to earn a big contract extension from the Reds. That would be the last great moment for Mesoraco, who has seen his upward rise wrecked by injuries, playing in only 115 games since the start of the 2015 season. Mesoraco has also been passed on the Reds’ depth chart by Tucker Barnhart, making him a very expensive bench player for Cincinnati. The two teams are paying the respective salaries for the players involved in the trade, so the Mets are getting a big league catcher for Harvey’s salary, which is a huge win for them.
Mesoraco can no longer play every day because of his brittle nature, but he can be the lead guy in a platoon. The Mets will probably play Mesoraco three or four times a week, while Jose Lobaton (or eventually Kevin Plawecki) plays the other games. Mesoraco is only 29 years old and his modest production this year (.214/1/3) is a massive upgrade over the current tandem of Lobaton and Tomas Nido.
The rest of this deal doesn’t make a ton of sense. The Reds do get Mesoraco off their team, but they ate his full salary to take a chance on a pitcher who hasn’t been effective at the big league level for the better part of two and a half years. Cincinnati is going nowhere this season, so they can afford to let Harvey start every fifth day in the hopes he can fix his issues, but there is little chance he stays in the Queen City beyond this season. The Reds are no doubt hoping that Harvey shows enough improvement that they can flip him for a prospect or two in July, but that is far from a guarantee.
The biggest loser in the trade is Harvey, who goes from pitching in New York City to the worst team in the National League. Harvey will get to start again, which was his overall goal, but he now has to pitch for a lousy baseball team in a park that may be the best hitters park in the NL outside of Coors Field. It remains to be seen if a change of scenery can help Harvey become a competent big league pitcher again, but the Mets couldn’t afford to let him keep trying to figure it out at the major league level. The fact that Alderson was able to ship a disgruntled veteran out of town and add a capable catcher to his roster is the best the Mets could hope for given the circumstances.
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