The New York Mets have acquired RHP Chris Bassitt from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for RHPs JT Ginn and Adam Oller.
It’s not a big surprise to see the A’s cry poverty once again, as despite being a decent enough team last year, they are selling off pieces to cut an already thin payroll. Compared to some other players reportedly on the market, Bassitt makes a lot of sense to deal. He is 33 and coming off a career season. Plus, he will hit free agency after 2022. The return is also good. Ginn, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Mets’ 5th best prospect, was a second-rounder in 2020 after not signing as a first-rounder with the Dodgers in 2018. His first professional season was exactly what the Mets would have hoped for. Oller was a minor league waiver claim after the 2019 season, but he reached AAA in 2021 out of nowhere and was surprisingly good. He already sounds like an A.
Ginn, 22, spent 2021 between High-A Brooklyn and Single-A St. Lucie. In total, he had a 3.03 ERA with 81 strikeouts and a 1.054 WHIP in 92 innings.
Oller, 27, had a 3.45 ERA with 138 strikeouts and a 1.167 WHIP in 120 innings between AA Binghamton and AAA Syracuse last season. In his minor league career, Oller has a 4.05 ERA with 395 strikeouts in 380.1 innings.
Behind Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, Bassitt might be the best number three starter in baseball, depending on how the Trevor Bauer situation in Los Angeles works out. The sinkerballer had a fantastic season in 2021, bringing his talent into the light league-wide. Despite not being particularly fast, he has an effective fastball, with batters hitting .185 against it last year. His walk rate has lowered in each subsequent season, down to 6.1 percent in 2021. While he is coming off his best season, it shouldn’t be said that Bassitt was not good before. He has a 3.23 ERA since 2018.
Bassitt, 33, had a 3.15 ERA with 159 strikeouts and a 3.34 FIP in 157.1 innings in 2021. In his MLB career for the A’s and Chicago White Sox, Bassitt has a 3.47 ERA with 506 strikeouts and a 3.86 FIP in 555.2 innings.
CarterHud 