Blue Jays acquire Steven Matz from Mets

TORONTO – The Blue Jays continued their busy offseason by acquiring left-hander Steven Matz from the Mets in exchange for three pitchers, the club announced Wednesday. In the deal, the Blue Jays will send young Mets right-hangers Sean Reid-Foley, Josh Winckowski and Yennsy Diaz. Matz is set to

TORONTO – Blue Jays continued their busy offseason by acquiring left-hander Steven matz Mets in exchange for three pitchers, the club announced on Wednesday.

In the deal, the Blue Jays will send young Mets right-hangers Sean Reid-Foley, Josh Winckowski and Yennsy Diaz. Matz is expected to earn $ 5.2 million in 2021.

• Monitoring of hot stoves

The Blue Jays have been one of the most aggressive baseball teams of the offseason, their headlining being a six-year contract with star outfielder George Springer for a club record of $ 150 million. They also reached a deal with Marcus Semien on a one-year, $ 18 million deal and added relievers Kirby Yates and Tyler Chatwood to their paddock. After these moves, however, the starting rotation was their clearest need and Matz is the next step to meet it.

TRADE DETAILS
The Blue Jays get: LHP Steven Matz
The Mets get: RHP Sean Reid-Foley, Yennsy Diaz and Josh Winckowski

A shift to the trading market also makes sense at this point in the offseason for the Blue Jays, given that they have done the majority of their business through free agency and still have a large pool of prospects. Speaking earlier on Wednesday, club president and CEO Mark Shapiro suggested there were still options on the table to improve the club after their aggressive free agent campaign.

“We have some flexibility, but most of our work is done,” Shapiro said. “There are still opportunities for [GM] Ross [Atkins] and our baseball operations group to be creative in what they do.

Matz, 29, is a former Mets best prospect, at one point, at No. 15 in baseball, according to the 2015 MLB Pipeline rankings. The southpaw has shown flashes since then, but there have been some ups and downs along the way in New York City. For his career, Matz has an ERA of 4.35 out of 107 starts.

Shoulder discomfort limited Matz to just 30 2/3 innings in 2020 with a 9.68 ERA, but seasons 18 and 19 paint the most accurate picture of him as a healthy starter. Over those two seasons, Matz averaged 30 starts with a 4.09 ERA. The talent is certainly here for something better, however, and that advantage will now be in the hands of pitching coach Pete Walker.

With Hyun Jin Ryu as the ace of the rotation and No.1 Nate Pearson as next in line, Matz will join a deep group of mid-back rookies, including Robbie Ray, who returned to the Blue Jays over a year, $ 8 million deal and Tanner Roark. The Blue Jays also have arms like Ross Stripling, Thomas Hatch, Trent Thornton, Julian Merryweather and Anthony Kay in the photo, so options abound in the back.

The Blue Jays are expected to remain in the market for further potential rotational upgrades, and opportunities may arise throughout the season leading up to the trading deadline, given the flexibility. club payroll and capacity to contract.

Reid-Foley is probably the name most familiar to Blue Jays fans after being drafted by the club in 2014 and making appearances in each of the past three seasons. The hard-throwing right-hander has a 4.40 wpm career in the big leagues and, while Reid-Foley arrived as a starter in the minor leagues, the Blue Jays also saw the boxing potential in him, reckons given his combination of fastball and slider.

Diaz, the club’s No.26 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, made his MLB debut with just one appearance in 2020 and, until that point, had not passed Double-A. A fastball with lots of tail action has been Diaz’s best tool in the minor leagues. Winckowski, the club’s No.27, was a 15th round pick in 2016 out of high school, but performed very well in the minor leagues, posting a 2.69 ERA between Class A Lansing and Class A Advanced Dunedin in 2019. Winckowski’s fastball sits at nearly 92 mph and the tall straight profiles as a starter or long lifter that could handle a heavy workload.

Reid-Foley and Diaz both had spots on the Blue Jays’ 40-player roster before the deal. Matz will take one of those while the reported deal with Semien, which has yet to be confirmed by the club, is expected to take the other, bringing it down to a total of 40.