After 99 days, we finally have baseball again. The owners and MLBPA reached an agreement to satisfy all parties enough to greenlight a full, 162 game season. After taking some time to celebrate the end of the owner-imposed lockout, teams got down to business quickly. Today, I’d like to look at the Mets’ decision to bring former Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt to Queens.

Player: Chris Bassitt – Starting Pitcher, 33 Years Old

The Teams: Oakland A’s and New York Mets

The Deal: Bassitt to NY in exchange for prospects J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller

The Impact – For Oakland

It’s not entirely surprising. Coming into this season, the club was expected to move several key pieces. This trade furthers that narrative, with the likes of Matt Olson and Matt Chapman at the top of the list of players also headed elsewhere. Landing Ginn and Oller allows them to get younger (both Oller and Ginn are in their 20s) and helps trim the payroll as well.

The Impact – For New York

Back in Flushing, bringing in Bassitt is great for the Mets. Before the lockout, the Mets were wheeling and dealing all over the place. They’d made some big time moves, landing Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, and some guy named Scherzer – you may have heard of him? That was the last big piece of news around baseball before the owners threw the padlock on the season.

Now that the gates are open again, the Mets got right back to work. Even after adding Scherzer, it was widely expected that the Mets weren’t finished. There was still a need for a few more arms to bolster the rotation behind deGrom and Scherzer, as well as some holes that need filling in the bullpen. It only took a couple of days before they swung the deal for Bassitt.

Career Snapshot

• 31-25 as a starter over 7 years in MLB
• Finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting the last two seasons
• Named to the AL All-Star Team in 2021
• 2021 Stats: 12-4, 3.15 ERA, 159 K (9.1 K/9), 1.055 WHIP in 27 starts

Given how his career has trended lately, this is a terrific move for the Mets. With deGrom coming off of an injury-shortened season, and Scherzer logging a ton of innings, adding a 3rd quality arm was a must. The projected rotation now looks like this:

It will allow guys like Tylor Megill and David Peterson to continue to develop in the minors while also providing depth should any of the rotation falter or get hurt. This was something that was a glaring issue last season, especially after deGrom went down for good. If the addition of Scherzer was meant to excite the fanbase, then following it up with this deal shows that the team is serious about playing deep into October.

The Grade: A

Oh yeah – #LFGM!!!