The Mets and Orioles are in agreement on a trade sending left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from Baltimore to New York, as first reported by SNY’s Andy Martino. Martino adds that minor league right-handers Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster are returning to the O’s.
Soto, 30, has pitched to a 3.96 ERA this season and carries a 3.91 mark dating all the way back to 2021. He’s playing the season on a $5.35MM salary and is a pure free agent at season’s end. He still has about $1.87MM of his salary yet to be paid out, and since the Mets are third-time luxury tax payors in the top penalty bracket, there’ll be a 110% tax on that sum. That brings the total financial expenditure to about $3.925MM.
Armed with a four-seamer that averages 97.1 mph and a sinker that’s sitting 96.7 mph, Soto can miss bats in bunches but struggles to command his sizzling repertoire. He’s fanned 27.5% of his opponents this year, but also issued walks at an 11.3% clip that’s pretty well aligned with his career mark.
Still, Soto has avoided too much damage from righties, and lefties may as well not even bother stepping into the box (.138/.271/.276). He’ll give a Mets club that has been focused on adding at least one lefty to its bullpen a potent weapon against divisional foes like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Matt Olson down the stretch, to say nothing of potential key matchups against prominent lefties like Shohei Ohtani or Kyle Tucker in the postseason.
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