Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Mets have traded Matt Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds for catcher Devin Mesoraco. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports was first to report the deal was close. The fun part: the Reds and Mets are in the middle of a series against one another, so Mesoraco will just switch dugouts and will start for the Mets tonight. Harvey will join the Reds in Los Angeles later this week.
Details are thin, but earlier today it was reported that the Mets were interesting in receiving a catcher in return for Harvey and the Reds, while lacking a lot of stuff, had catching to spare. Or, at the very least, had mostly dead contract money attributable to a catcher in Mesoraco, who is owed a pro-rata $13 million for the rest of this season despite having lost his job to Tucker Barnhart.
Harvey is obviously a mess, but the Reds have nothing to lose in trying to fix him, especially if since it helps them get rid of a catcher they don’t need. The money, of course, can be massaged however the Mets and Reds would like it, what with Harvey still owed most of the $5.6 million for which he’s on the books in 2018. Those details will likely be released soon.
Harvey is sporting a 7.00 ERA, his velocity is down and he has never gotten right again following thoracic outlet surgery on his pitching shoulder in 2016. Moreover, he has burnt his bridges with the Mets, refusing a minor league assignment. Mesoraco is hitting .220/.289/.341 in 45 plate appearances this year. While once an All-Star, the season that earned him those honors and his current contract came four years ago, and that was his only season as an above-average hitter in the bigs.
Still, it’s a problem for a problem trade in which no one really has anything to lose, right?
