NY Mets offseason grades for the major winter transactions

Mets trade Steven Matz for three prospects

One of the few remaining pieces from the 2015 World Series team was traded to the Blue Jays for three prospects. Pitchers Josh Winckowski, Sean Reid-Foley, and Yennsy Diaz were the players the Mets got in return.

Heading into the offseason, I wanted Matz to be non-tendered. In the 2020 season, Matz went 0-5 with a 9.68 ERA in nine appearances. Somehow, he allowed 14 home runs in 30.2 innings pitched. The Mets decided to keep Matz, and they agreed on a one-year $5.2 million-dollar deal.

The fact that the Mets were able to turn Matz, a guy the Mets considered non-tendering into three prospects is kind of astonishing. Are these guys top prospects? No. But they are better than nothing and add even more depth.

The Mets ended up flipping Winckowski in the deal to get Khalil Lee, who is now the seventh-ranked prospect in the Mets system.

Sean Reid-Foley at one point was a pretty highly touted prospect as he was 93rd on MLB.com’s top 100 prospect list. Things haven’t gone super well for him in the big leagues so far in his 21 appearances, but he is just additional depth. He is 25 years old and still has plenty left in the tank.

Yennsy Diaz is another depth piece. He has made one big-league appearance, but other than that hasn’t pitched above AA. In 2019, he went 11-9 in AA with a 3.74 ERA in his 24 starts. The 24-year-old is listed as the 27th ranked prospect in a pretty weak Mets system.

While the pieces in the deal might not look that great on paper, they are better than nothing. I did not like Matz at the money he was scheduled to make, I would rather have Lucchesi in the role Matz would have been in.

Grade: A