The New York Mets are technically the NL East leaders at this point, and the moves they’ve made have been in furtherance of that, but everything they do also has the possibility of impacting the Cubs in the NL Wild Card race.
So, then, the Mets picking up yet another piece in trade is notable.
The Mets have acquired lefty Eric O’Flaherty (and cash) from the A’s in exchange for a PTBNL or cash, which, you are correctly surmising the basis of that description, is not a significant transaction. At the end of the day, the Mets likely will have simply paid a little of O’Flaherty’s salary for the privilege of giving him a go in their bullpen.
And, sure enough, O’Flaherty’s season numbers look like a guy who could be acquired for cash in August: 5.91 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 4.31 xFIP, 13.9% K rate, 12.0% BB rate. Thoroughly meh (at best).
Howeva, O’Flaherty, a lefty, still dominates lefties, who’ve hit just .182/.286/.209 off of him this year. Use him as a LOOGY, and he’s a contributor, without question. He’s a huge upgrade over Alex Torres, the lefty he replaces on the roster and in the bullpen.
In the last few weeks, the Mets – currently a game up in the NL East (and two games behind the Cubs, if it came to that) – have added O’Flaherty, Yoenis Cespedes, Tyler Clippard, Kelly Johnson, and Juan Uribe.