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Update, July 21: It seemed extremely likely on Friday night that Mets closer Jeurys Familia was going to end up being traded to the Athletics, and that deal was finalized on Saturday afternoon, with the former All-Star being dealt to Oakland in exchange for minor-leaguers Will Toffey and Bobby Wahl, plus international slot money. MLB.com’s Jane Lee and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman were the first to provide details of the finalized trade on Saturday:
Source: #Mets are getting 2 prospects Wahl and Toffey and international slot money for Familia
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 21, 2018
Hearing the A’s and Mets have finalized a trade. A’s sending two prospects, plus international slot money, to Mets for Jeurys Familia.
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) July 21, 2018
Neither Toffey nor Wahl was ranked among the Athletics’ top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Toffey, a fourth-rounder in last year’s draft, is a third baseman out of Vanderbilt who has posted a pedestrian .244/.357/.384 slash line with five homers with the High-A Stockton Ports over his first full season. Even though he hasn’t been particularly great this year, the prospect-starved Mets will immediately move him up to Double-A Binghamton.
Wahl, 26, made his big-league debut last year with the A’s, appearing in seven games and posting a 4.70 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP over 7.2 innings of relief. He was outrighted off their 40-man roster following the season. In 34 appearances (including one start) for Triple-A Nashville this season, he has a strong 2.27 ERA and 0.86 WHIP over 39.2 innings, making him a strong candidate to receive a chance in the Mets’ bullpen at some point this season.
Original post, July 20: The Mets season has been, well, a bit of a disaster. They have dealt with injuries on both sides of the ball, have gotten underwhelming performances from others, and after a hot start to the season they find themselves in last place in the NL East.
This has begun quite a bit of talk regarding the path forward for the team. Noah Syndergaard (when healthy) and Jacob deGrom are studs, but the rest of the team is a bit of a mess. What is clear is that, to some extent, they will be selling at the deadline in 2018 not only because they won’t be contending this year, but because they have already started the process of doing so.
Source confirms: #Athletics working to get Familia from #Mets. No deal in place. Other teams might still be in mix. Interest from A’s first reported by @susanslusser earlier today.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 21, 2018
Jeurys Familia has put together a very solid campaign in the Mets bullpen in 2018. He has posted a 2.88 ERA with 43 strikeouts and 14 walks in 40.2 innings this year (40 appearances) while accumulating 1.7 rWAR. Familia is a free agent after this year, so he has been a popular name in the trade rumor mill.
Oakland is a logical landing place as they have had interest in Familia for a while and they are hanging around in the AL Wild Card race as well as, to a lesser extent, the AL West although that is going to be a tougher hill to climb in 2018. As Rosenthal stated, nothing is finalized and another team could swoop in, but all signs as of this moment seem to point towards Oakland being the frontrunner.