Mets News: Steven Matz traded for a nice haul of three prospects

The New York Mets surprised a lot of fans Wednesday night when they pulled off a trade with one of their biggest offseason rivals, the Toronto Blue Jays. This offseason has included plenty of rumors about these two teams battling for free agents.

In this particular transaction, they came together to pull off a deal.

Steven Matz is no longer a member of the Mets. He’ll join the Night’s Watch north of the wall with the Blue Jays for at least one year. In return, the Mets are receiving three prospects: Sean Reid-Foley, Yennsy Diaz, and Josh Winckowski.

Whether you know a thing about these three prospects or not doesn’t matter much. To get three warm bodies in return for Matz feels like a win.

Earlier this week, I wrote about how much of a shame it was that Matz declined so much after the awesome start to his career. Less than 72 hours later, the Mets traded him away.

The new Mets prospects

Admittedly, Reid-Foley is the lone prospect acquire I have heard of. The 25-year-old is 5-8 with a 4.40 ERA in 71.2 big league innings working as a starter and reliever.

Diaz, 24, has only one game of MLB experience. In his last full season in the minors, he went 11-9 with a 3.74 ERA working mostly as a starter in Double-A for the Jays.

Finally, there’s Winckowski. The youngest of the three at 22, he has yet to pitch above High-A. However, his professional statistics are pretty good. At two levels in Single-A back in 2019, Winckowski was 10-8 with a 2.69 ERA.

Minor league statistics and small big league sample sizes don’t tell us much about what we can expect from any of the three. The Mets did, however, manage to add some pitching depth to their farm system. This goes against what the organization has done during the two seasons under Brodie Van Wagenen’s control.

Matz didn’t have much of a role with the Mets anyway

While some Mets fans might be bummed to see Matz go, the time had come. He didn’t have much of a place with the 2021 squad. Spring training would have been all about battling for the fifth starter gig. If he lost it, I’m not sure he’d succeed well in the bullpen.

Despite his shortcomings and the sudden end to his career with the Mets, I think many fans will remember him with mostly fond memories. Even if there was an annual meltdown on the mound—usually in Philadelphia—Matz was one of those beloved players in this current era of baseball in Flushing.

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Things may not have gone as planned. No doubt a good guy at the very least, I wish him the best with Toronto.