OAKLAND, California. Right-hander Chris Bassitt, who recovered remarkably from a scary line header last year, was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the New York Mets on Saturday for a pair of minor league pitchers.
The Mets sent right-handers JT Ginn and Adam Oller for an A for Bassit.
Bassitt gives the Mets a much-needed starting XI in the middle of the rotation, which seems to fit well behind aces Jacob de Grom and Max Scherzer.
Bassitt, 33, returned to make two starts in late September, just over a month after he collided with a 100 mph jetliner in Chicago on August 17. Drive pulled away from Brian Goodwin’s bat in the second inning of a 9–0 loss to the White Sox.
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Bassit underwent surgery for three fractures to his right cheekbone. Immediately after the injury, his right eye swollen.
Bassitt finished 12-4 with a 3.15 ERA in 27 starts, including his first full career game and All-Star selection. He was an AL Cy Young candidate when he got injured, and his absence took a toll on A’s off the field. He was 12-3 with a 3.06 ERA and led the AL in wins when he was injured.
Oakland, who won the AL West in the virus-shortened 2020 season, finished 86–76 and was nine games behind the division champion Houston Astros and missed the playoffs after three consecutive games. The low-budget A’s have long been known to trade their key players during the off-season.
Athletics will be led by freshman manager Mark Kotsey, a former outfielder for the club.
New York made a splash by giving Scherzer a free hand ahead of the Major League Baseball lockout, giving the team an impressive duet with deGrom, who collectively won five Cy Young Awards. But a little lost in the excitement was the fact that Markus Stroman, the club’s best player last season, signed with the Chicago Cubs, and right-hander Noah Sindergaard, returning from Tommy John surgery, left for the Los Angeles Angels.
So the Mets need to add depth on the mound, especially with de Grohme ending a season shortened by injury and Scherzer due to turn 38 in July. They also have Carlos Carrasco, who made 12 mostly ineffective starts last year in his first season with the Mets, and Taihuang Walker, who ended the All-Star first half with a miserable second half.
Third-year left-hander David Peterson and right-hander Tylor Megill are also rotation options after each showed some promise as a rookie.
The 22-year-old Ginn was selected by the Mets in the second round in 2020. Last year, he was 5-5 combined with a 3.33 ERA on two grade A ball levels.
Oller, 27, was a 9-4 combo with a 3.45 ERA in Triple-A and Double-A last year.