Tony Plate - Mets Trade Familia

The Mets shocked their fans by trading Jeurys Familia who was one of their most successful relief pitchers in their history to the Oakland A’s last Saturday in exchange for two prospects, cash and international bonus pool space. Familia was put in the closer’s role in 2015.  He set a single-season franchise record with 51 saves a year later and was named an All-Star. He was one of the better relief pitchers in baseball. The Met fans were expecting a better return, however when a pitcher is traded and is going to be a free agent at the end of the season such as Familia the return will not be that much. The trade may not have been good for the Mets, but it was also not horrendous, because the one million in international bonus pool money will help. The relief pitcher Bobby Wahl may be injury prone but is major league ready. The other prospect that they received was third baseman William Toffey who was the 17^th best prospect in the A’s farm system.

The Mets should have waited until the 7/31 trade deadline to make the trade. A buyer would be willing to part with more with little time remaining in the trade deadline or they should have offered to cover Familia’s contract, then they would have received a better return which would have been very beneficial for the Mets who needed to rebuild their roster and farm system. Instead the A’s are picking up the three million that is owed to Familia. The Mets can use more prospects at second base and catcher. So, it looks like more trades will be coming as the trade deadline approaches.

The Mets now are in a situation in which they will be calling up other prospects come September that they are looking forward to watch. They want to prepare for 2019. If they keep their two aces deGrom and Noah they can be contenders for at least a wildcard spot next year.