The New York Mets decided to address their lackluster bullpen this week by executing a trade with the Seattle Mariners. The Mets received pitchers Trevor Gott and Chris Flexen while sending left-hand pitcher Zach Muckenhirn to Seattle.
Immediately after the trade became official, the Mets decided to designate Flexen for assignment. The New York team will be on the hook for $3.9 million of Flexen’s salary and can either trade him or outright release him.
Gott signed with the Mariners on a one-year, $1.2 million deal in November. He made 30 relief appearances and had a 0-3 record with a 4.03 ERA and 32 strikeouts. The Mets hope that the 30-year-old player will bring some stability to the bullpen that ranked in the bottom half of the league this season.
Flexen, who started his MLB career with the Mets, played 17 games in 2023 and made four starts with the Mariners. He has a 7.71 ERA for the season with 29 strikeouts and a 0-4 record.
Muckenhirn just recently saw his first MLB action. He made three appearances and had a 6.00 ERA.
Speaking with the reporters about the trade, Mariners’ manager Scott Servais said that the exchange of pitchers might benefit both teams.
“Trevor Gott, he did some good things for us. I thought he made some really nice improvements. That was a really good pickup for us in the offseason,” said Servais. “But this is an opportunity for those guys to go elsewhere. In the meantime, we get a player back, and we will use a couple of different players to fill that extra bullpen spot as we go forward.”
