The New York Mets made yet another move with the 2021 season in mind, trading for a young starter with MLB experience. The organization informed that they have acquired Jordan Yamamoto from the Miami Marlins, in exchange for minor league infielder Federico Polanco.
To make room for Yamamoto on the 40-man roster, the New York Mets decided to designate infielder Robel GarcÃa for assignment.
Yamamoto is a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher that profiles as a back-of-the-rotation arm. He had been designated for assignment by the Marlins a few days ago.
The Mets are taking a chance on the young pitcher hoping that he can show the form that made him a revelation in 2019. That year, he had a 4.46 ERA (39 earned runs/78.2 innings) and 82 strikeouts in 15 starts with Miami.
He was, according to a release from the Mets, third in MLB among pitchers with a minimum of 15 starts with a .191 opponent batting average and a 6.18 hits per nine innings ratio behind Justin Verlander (.172, 5.53) and Gerrit Cole (.186, 6.02).
The Mets are adding more depth
The Mets, with the move, want to shore up their upper-minors pitching depth and have Yamamoto serve as an option should one (or more) of the MLB rotation options suffer an injury.
Despite his good 2019, Yamamoto was bad in 2020, with a 18.26 ERA and a 11.93 FIP in 11.1 innings. His best years are ahead of him, though, and the Mets are taking a chance on him in exchange for the 19-year-old Polanco, who has hit .244 (110–450) with 20 doubles and 50 RBI in two minor league seasons.
The Mets, despite adding several starters during the offseason, could still make another splash or two in the following weeks, as they have been connected with top-tier free agent Trevor Bauer. They brought back Marcus Stroman and traded for Carlos Carrasco, yet they may not be done improving the pitching staff.