*Photo from Bleacher Report*
The firesale of the Oakland Athletics has begun. The New York Mets have acquired RHP Chris Bassitt from the Athletics in exchange for RHP's JT Ginn and Adam Oller, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Both teams have confirmed the trade.
The starting rotation of the Mets, although one that had a very good top two, was filled with concerns and question marks surrounding the other spots up for grabs in that rotation. Although Bassitt is only under control for this season, he's an addition that helps to shore up the rotation in Queens, as he's really emerged in recent years.
Last season, excluding that pretty famous injury he suffered, Bassitt had a strong year for the A's. He finished the year with a 12-4 record with a 3.15 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, fanning 159 hitters while tossing 157 1/3 innings, totaling 27 starts for the 3rd place Athletics.
In his career, spanning 7 seasons, Bassitt has a 31-25 record with a 3.47 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, with 504 strikeouts and 179 walks across 555 2/3 innings, totaling 93 starts and 13 relief appearances, split between Oakland and the Chicago White Sox, making his debut in 2014.
Bassitt's biggest strength is not his velocity, but rather his control. He is good at inducing weak contact, finishing in the 88th percentile in hard hit rate last season, a big reason why he was selected to his first career all star game. He missed a good deal of time after being hit in the head with a line drive, but did make two starts at the end of the season.
By signing with the Mets, Bassitt will likely take over the 3rd spot in the rotation, behind Jacob Degrom and Max Scherzer. The other two spots will be a competition between Taijuan Walker, David Peterson, Carlos Carrasco, and Tylor Megill.
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