12 worst Mets trades and free agent signings since Steve Cohen took over as majority owner

8) Worst NY Mets trade or free agent signing since Steve Cohen took over: Steven Matz to the Blue Jays

Prior to the 2021 season, the Mets traded longtime starter Steven Matz to the Toronto Blue Jays. It was seemingly a very “nothing” trade with the Mets upgrading the rotation with other additions to replace him. They had Taijuan Walker now. He’d make up for the loss of Matz, right?

Matz would go on to have one of his best seasons with Toronto. In 29 starts during the 2021 campaign, Matz went 14-7 with a 3.82 ERA. It was his best ERA since the 3.40 he posted in 2016.

The Mets did actually manage to get a decent haul in exchange for Matz even with one year of control remaining and a poor 2020 season. Yennsy Diaz, Sean Reid-Foley, and Josh Winckowski were all acquired. The first two would see action with the Mets before eventually getting DFA’d. Winckowski was traded before the season began in a deal which may or may not make this list. You’ll have to stick around to find out. Spoiler alert: it’s coming up shortly!

The fact that the Mets didn’t get much of anything except for two mop-up relievers makes this a losing deal for New York. If they had kept Winckowski, the story completely changes. There’ll be more on him and his success with the Boston Red Sox in a little while. First, let’s talk about the time the Mets traded a dollar for an outfielder.