On Tuesday evening the New York Mets announced that they agreed to acquire right-handed reliever Phil Maton in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for cash or a player to be named later. The Mets designated left-handed starter Joey Lucchesi for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. Lucchesi joined the Mets organization in 2021 and was optioned to triple-A Syracuse on May 16th.
With Maton’s activation on Wednesday evening, the Mets option RHP Eric Orze to triple-A Syracuse. The Mets also placed RHP Reed Garrett on the 15-day IL with right elbow inflammation. LHP Danny Young has been recalled from triple-A Syracuse.
Full Pitching Roster Leaves No Room for Lucchesi
“Anytime you’re adding a player to a full 40-man roster, you have to make difficult decisions,” said President of Baseball Operations David Stearns in his media availability before the Mets’ Tuesday night win against the Washington Nationals, “Joey has pitched well at times for this organization, specifically last year, it’s only our hope that we’ll be able to retain him but we’ll see what happens.” Lucchesi recorded four wins in nine games in the 2023 season for the Mets with a 2.89 ERA, 15 earned runs, four home runs, 17 walks, and 32 strikeouts.
Kodai Senga is currently rehabbing and should be joining the Mets starting rotation soon. In his sixth season since debuting in 2018, Lucchesi spent most of this season in triple-A Syracuse and has only one start in the majors. The current Mets rotation includes Sean Manaea, David Peterson, Jose Quintana, Christian Scott, and Luis Severino.
Mets Acquire Maton After Bullpen Struggles
Maton joins the Mets’ mediocre at best bullpen. The Mets bullpen ERA this season ranks 20th in the majors at 4.27. They also have the fifth-highest amount of walks with 149. Mets bullpen also has the second highest amount of strikeouts in the majors with 369 according to Covers.com. Mets relievers also have 16 blown saves (tied for eighth highest with the Arizona Diamondbacks) and have a 57% save percentage (tied for ninth lowest with the Pittsburgh Pirates) according to Baseball Reference.
“Our bullpen performed among the league best, if not the best the first month of the season. [They] had a really rough May with the pen, performed much better in June again and clearly over the last week it hasn’t performed at a high level and I think there are a lot of reasons for that… you add that all together and it’s been a challenge. But I also think that we have some really talented arms down there that are capable of pitching at a high level who have pitched [at] a high level,” said Stearns.
Maton’s Place in the Bullpen for Mets
“It’s an experienced arm who has pitched in the back end of the bullpens and big games. He’s shown an ability with his stuff arsenal to attack both-handed hitters so we are excited to bring him in,” said Stearns.
Maton this season has four saves, a 4.58 ERA with 18 earned runs, six home runs, 29 hits, 18 walks, and 30 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings pitched across 40 appearances. It appears that the worst of his performance has passed. In his last 10 starts, Maton has given up five hits, a home run, one earned run, a walk, and hit one batter. He also struck out 11 batters with an ERA of 0.82 in 11 innings pitched during that span.
“[Maton] is a piece we think, today, helps our bullpen and helps our team and we’re going to continue to see what is out there and moves that may make sense for us,” Stearns said.
Stearns’ Short and Sweet Time With the Mets So Far
Stearns was hired as the President of Baseball Operations for the Mets in October of 2023. Major singings that Stearns made include Harrison Bader, Jose Iglesias, Manaea, J.D. Martinez, and Severino. Stearns also acquired Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Coleman Crow. Stearns is also responsible for getting Luis Torrens from the New York Yankees for cash.
More New York Mets Articles
More MLB Articles
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
- Category
-
New York Mets
