Mets Articles

Mets Shore Up Pitching Staff with Bassitt, Ottavino

The Mets made two moves to shore up their shaky pitching staff as Spring Training began this weekend. They traded for A’s starter Chris Bassett and signing free agent reliever Adam Ottavino.

Bassitt looks like a solid middle of the rotation guy. He just turned 33 but he’s a late bloomer, having only logged 555 major league innings. He’s been excellent the past two seasons, receiving Cy Young award votes both years, pitching to 2.29 and 3.15 ERAs, respectively. The Mets had to give up JT Ginn, a promising second round pick in 2020, and another pitching prospect who is already 27 years old. It seems like a fair price to pay for immediate rotation help. Bassitt is a free agent after this season, so there is no long term commitment for the older player.

Speaking of older players, Ottavino is 36 years old and played last season for the Red Sox. He pitched to an unimpressive 4.21 ERA, averaging more than a strikeout per inning. He played for the stupid Yankees the prior two years, pitching to great 1.90 ERA in 2019 and a terrible 5.89 ERA in 2020. Is he on the downswing? Like most relievers, it’s hard to tell. This looks like a low risk, high reward type of deal for the Mets.

So good job by the Mets this weekend. Now just get one more big bat and they’ll be ready to compete.

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