One of the New York Mets’ most consistent relievers of the past few years has a new home. Lefty Jerry Blevins has signed a minor league deal with the Oakland A’s, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. The contract will pay Blevins $1.5 million if he makes the big league roster, a similar deal to the one the Mets handed out to lefty Luis Avilan earlier this offseason.
Blevins, who was very effective in 2016 and 2017 for the Mets, struggled mightily in the 2018 season. In 64 appearances for the Mets in 2018, Blevins went 3-2 but pitched to a 4.85 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. Lefties also torched Blevins, hitting .264 against him in 2018, a vast improvement over the .197 mark they posted in 2017. It’s possible the decline came as a result of Blevins’ heavy usage over the prior two years, where he made a combined 148 appearances.
The return to Oakland is a homecoming for Blevins, who debuted with the A’s in 2007 and spent the first seven years of his career there. Blevins then spent a year in Washington before being traded to the Mets for Matt den Dekker in spring training of 2015, one of Sandy Alderson’s shrewder trades as GM.
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