The Mets announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired left-hander Matt Gage from the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. Gage was subsequently optioned to Triple-A. The Mets transferred right-hander Drew Smith to the 60-day injured list to make room for Gage on the 40-man roster.
Gage, 31, was a tenth-round pick by the Giants back in 2014 but didn’t make his big league debut until 2022 as a member of the Blue Jays. Since then, he’s appeared in 16 games between the 2022 and 2023 campaigns at the big league level with Toronto and Houston. He’s performed quite well in that time, with a fantastic 1.83 ERA and a solid 3.97 FIP in 19 2/3 innings of work. He sports an impressive 26% strikeout rate across his time in the majors but has walked an elevated 11.7% of opponents as well, raising questions about his control.
Gage arrived in L.A. as part of the Caleb Ferguson trade with the Yankees over the winter and re-signed with the club on a minor league deal back in April shortly after being released from his big league contract. He’s pitched for the club at the Triple-A level since then, posting a decent 4.29 ERA in 21 innings with ratios reminiscent of the ones he flashed during his time in the majors. He struck out an impressive 29.3% of batters faced with L.A.’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City but paired that high-octane stuff with a 13% walk rate. The Dodgers opted to select Gage to the 40-man roster last week after he triggered an opt-out clause in his contract, but he remained at the Triple-A level for the remainder of his time in the organization.
Now with the Mets, Gage figures to serve as optionable bullpen depth for a club that has seen its relievers struggle in recent months. Since the start of May, Mets relievers have struggled to a 4.62 ERA that bests only the Pirates and Rockies among NL clubs, and their 4.50 FIP during that same timeframe ranks fourth from the bottom in the majors. In particular, the Mets have struggled to find production from the left side in the bullpen this year. Veteran southpaw Jake Diekman has posted a 5.06 ERA and 5.61 FIP in 26 2/3 innings of work during his age-37 season for the club this year, while depth options Tyler Jay (7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings) and Josh Walker (5.11 ERA in 12 1/3 innings) have performed even worse in small sample sizes. The struggles of the club’s internal options should provide Gage with a relatively clear path to a role at the big league level for the Mets, so long as he can produce at a level anywhere near what he’s done in the past for the Blue Jays and Astros.
As for Smith, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise given recent reporting that the righty is likely to require Tommy John surgery due to significant damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. He was already ticketed for an extended absence prior to his placement on the IL, and the transfer should not impact his timeline with the remainder of his 2024 campaign already in doubt.
Oh good, another RP with control issues
Still a better option than most of the guys they have been rolling out there.
His wHIP is 1.08. How’s that control problems
Gage never pitched for the Dodgers but did appear in Triple-A. With Oklahoma City, he posted an ERA of 4.29 over 20 games. He held a record of 1-3 and a WHIP of 1.38.
People would rather a pitcher give up hits than walks apparently. Why the excess walk rate without a comparison to the hit rate? I don’t get it. I’d rather take the walks than the hits, if I had to choose.
it would be in context for me. If the hits are hard hits or multibase hits then no but if he is a ground ball pitcher or has low hard hit rates and the team he goes to has a good / excellent defense those hits could be outs Think Gleybar Torres at short vs say Francisco Lindor. Those hits get by Torres where Lindor could make the play.
walks are free passes and using up pitches with no chance of the out especially when the team is not really great at throwing out would be stealers. Also a lot of walks could potentially turn into wild pitches and that walk could easily turn into scoring without the batter even lifting the bat off the shoulder. Think Benitez for the mets that he had to reel back for intentional walks because he couldnt soft toss.
just my thoughts
100% would rather a guy give up hits than walks. Guys get hit sometime but a guy who just gives out free passes and works from behind constantly- guys don’t even have to do anything but stand there and let the pitcher beat themselves. And guys that are always behind and walking guys are always in hitter counts and tend to get hit hard too.
For the last two years between milb and mlb hes walked 4-5 per game. Those are control issues, whicb are even more damaging as a rp
And his whip overall between at both levels is above 1.35
Can’t be worse than Diekman
Haven’t yet gaged thus move but will get back to ya
Heard he blows up like a 12 gauge
Goodbye, Jake Diekman.
The Mets had Gage in their system as a starting pitcher 2018 in the Brodie VanWagenen era. He threw too many strikes, didn’t command the plate nor move hitters off of it at the time.
He had a great 4-1 K-to-BB rate, but was also giving up 12+ hits per 9 innings.
So Gage’s walk rate has gone up, as those hit rates have gone down.
This is seemingly better than Diekman not being able to find the plate at all anymore.
Yep. Diekman’s BB/9 is over 7 now. He was never Greg Maddux out there but it’s getting ridiculous.
Matt Gaga, aka Poker Face.
Roy DeSoto likes this.
Stearns found around a bajillion serviceable to good relievers off the scrap heap while running the Brewers. Dunno how good the Mets pitching dev lab/coaching are yet, but moves like this will eventually yield good relievers with years of control left.
Lefty specialist out of the bullpen. Great acquisition!
For Syracuse!
I hope he works out, we sure need the help.