Last Saturday, the Mets DFA'd (Designated For Assignment) Matt Harvey since he refused to report to the minors which made him a free agent. A player with more than five years of service in the MLB is allowed to refuse to report to the minors if he gets DFA'd. Last night with the Mets in Cincinnati to play the Reds, two players switched clubhouses as Harvey was traded to the Reds for C Devin Mesoraco. This trade was not a win-win trade for both teams as the Mets came out of this deal as the clear winners.
Why the Mets won
Matt Harvey used to be a top of the rotation starter in his early years with the Mets.
In 2012, 2013 and 2015, he went 25-18 with 449 strikeouts and only gave up 333 hits. From 2016 on, though, his career has been a disaster with bloated earned run averages, lots of hits given up, and being unable to produce.
The Mets designating him for assignment and trading him allowed them to get rid of him. What the Mets got in return for him really helps the Mets. The Mets acquired C Devin Mesoraco as they were in need of a C since Travis d'Arnaud is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery and Kevin Plawecki is out for a while with a broken hand.
With the Mets contending for the playoffs, Mesoraco immediately helps the Mets with a reliable option behind the plate. Before they acquired him, they were going with Jose Lobaton and rookie Tomas Nido as their catchers.
Mesoraco's career has mostly been derailed by injuries as he played a combined 95 games between 2015-2017. In 2014, he had a good season as he belted 25 HR's with 80 RBIs to go along with an average of .273. His good season in 2014 resulted in the Reds giving him a four-year, $28 million extension but this quickly turned sideways, with the injuries and the fact that the Reds' current C Tucker Barnhart passed him as the starting C on the Reds' depth chart.
The Reds are also covering a good amount of Mesoraco's $13.5 million that he's owed this year. In 18 games with the Reds this year, Mesoraco batted .220 with one HR.
Why the Reds lost
The Reds got rid of part of Mesoraco's $13.5 million that he's owed this year but they are still covering a good amount of his contract, which doesn't help much in terms of getting his contract off the books.
In return for Mesoraco, the Reds got Matt Harvey who is a free agent at the end of the season. Mesoraco is a free agent at the end of the 2018 season as well, which does not help the rebuilding Reds.
The Reds' rotation has been a downright disaster this year. The Reds' "ace" is Homer Bailey who has yet to record a win this year, and has given up 20 more hits than strikeouts. His earned run average currently stands at 5.61. Coming into the season, Luis Castillo was expected to be a bright spot on a weak Reds team but he has been more of a dark spot. He currently has an earned run average of 6.47 and an opponent average of .292. Sal Romano currently has an earned run average of 4.21 and has yet to get 20 strikeouts so far this season.
Their fourth starter, Tyler Mahle, may be their best starter so far this season even with an earned run average of 4.35 as he is the only member of the Reds' rotation that has gotten more strikeouts than hits given up. Their fifth starter, Brandon Finnegan has been disastrous, as his earned run average currently stands at 7.40 and his opponent average stands at .318. Adding Harvey to that mix with an earned run average of 7.00 and opponent average of .303 just makes it worse.
With the Reds' record currently standing at 10-27, their chances of making the playoffs have been set at .01 percent. While it's still early in the season, they're in the same division as the Cardinals, Cubs and Brewers -- who are all capable of making the playoffs -- and they also have the Pirates in their division who are a better team than the Reds.
With Harvey's contract up at the end of the season and the Reds being a last place team every season, the Reds brought in Harvey in hopes of trading him at the trade deadline on July 31, and if he still remains with the team past the deadline, it is unlikely that he will re-sign with the Reds when the season ends. Even if Harvey does well, they may be able to trade him but they would most likely get close to nothing in return. The Rangers and Giants had some interest in him before he was traded so he could go to one of those teams at the deadline.
The Reds needed their rotation revamped so they brought in Harvey to bring change to their awful rotation. If the Reds really wanted to make changes to their rotation, though, they should just move Amir Garrett from the bullpen to the rotation.
Garrett has been used as a starter in the minors and is projected as a future number two starter in the rotation. Last season, he started 14 games but had an ugly season, as he won three games, lost eight and had an earned run average of 7.39. While his numbers were bad, it was clear that he needed further polish in the minors and needed to learn a bit more. This season out of the bullpen, he has appeared in 16 games and has an earned run average of 1.93.
Another reason why the Reds brought him in was most likely to get some fans to come out to games. According to ESPN, the Reds are averaging 16 972 fans a game which is the sixth worst mark in the league. Since Harvey used to be a good pitcher, when he makes his Reds debut, he may be able to bring out a decent number of fans to come watch, but if he doesn't do well in his Reds debut, no one is going to come out to watch a last place team play some baseball.
