Mets trade Miguel Castro to the Yankees for Julie Rodriguez

The Mets exchanged Miguel Castro for the Yankees for Joely Rodriguez, According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post,. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted, Rodriguez has been signed as a free agent this off-season and is therefore ineligible to trade before June 15 without his consent. He and his agent gave consent in exchange for a $500,000 assignment bonus, which would be paid by the Mets as part of this deal. (Twitter links) Rodriguez represents Daniel Zio of Los Angeles Sports Management.

For the Mets, they’ve had a very busy time, upgrading their squad with the likes of Starling Marty, Marc Canha and Eduardo Escobar. They also added Max Scherzer and Chris Bassett to their rotation and Adam Ottavino to their center. However, the only area on the list that was not really addressed was the relief of the left hand. With Aaron Loeb joining the Angels, the only Southern Paws on the list were candidates to start the rotation. The club has given minor league deals to veterans like Chasen Shreve and Alex Claudio, but they clearly view Rodriguez as a meaningful upgrade, based on the fact that they were willing to part with Castro to get it.

After two seasons with the Phillies in 2016 and 2017, Rodriguez headed abroad for a stint with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball. After two solid seasons in Japan, Rodriguez was able to return to North America via a two-year deal from Rangers. In the abbreviated 2020 season, he put together an ERA of 2.13 over 12 2/3 innings. Things seemed to go in the wrong direction last year, as his ERA jumped to 5.93 in July. However, the Yankees seemed to believe that this was a small sample, as they obtained it as part of the Joe Gallo trade. He fared much better after the trade-off, with a 2.84 ERA in 19 rounds in striped lines. At the end of the season, the club rejected his $3 million option in favor of a $500k buyout, but quickly re-signed him for a $2 million salary, saving $500k. With this trade and the waiver bonus, Rodriguez regained that difference.

More is coming.