Matt Harvey traded from New York Mets to the Cincinnati Reds

The New York Mets and the Cincinnati Reds have agreed to a trade that sends Matt Harvey from the Mets to Cincinnati in exchange for catcher Devin Mesoraco. The Reds are paying the remainder of Mesoraco’s $13.125 million that he is due in 2018, the final year of his four year contract extension he signed after his one good year in 2014, and the Mets are paying the remainder of the $5.63 million Harvey is due this year.

The Mets, as a result of this deal, get a major league catcher with a pulse at a time when they are in dire need of catching help due to both of their primary catchers being out with injuries. Mesoraco hasn’t had a positive bWAR since 2014, when he had a 4.7 bWAR in his one good year, but the Mets are hurting for catching help, and I assume they feel he’s better than what options are freely available out there, and they get him at no incremental cost above what it would have cost if they’d released Harvey.

As for Harvey, he gets sent to play for the worst team in baseball, and in a very hitter-friendly park. The Reds will presumably see if they can fix Harvey, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, and try to salvage something from him, or at least get some innings out of him in a year where they appear to be competing for the #1 overall pick.