Mets Trade Leone To Angels; Acquire Two Relievers From Dodgers

The New York Mets made two final deals before the trade deadline. First, they sent relief pitcher Dominic Leone to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for infield prospect Jeremiah Jackson. Then, to end the day, they acquired a duo of relievers from the Los Angeles Dodgers in Phil Bickford and Adam Kolarek for cash considerations.

The Mets originally signed Leone back on May 4 to a one-year deal with a base salary of $1.5 million. The 31-year-old right-handed reliever tossed 30 1/3 innings for New York posting a 4.40 ERA to go along with 33 strikeouts. His FIP of 5.26 indicated he was not the most effective when called upon, but he was able to eat up some innings helping preserve the bullpen at points.

In exchange for Leone, the Mets received an intriguing prospect in Jeremiah Jackson. Jackson, 23 years old, can play second base, third base, and shortstop. He was the Angels’ ninth-rated prospect before the season began according to MLB Pipeline and was ranked 18th midseason by Baseball America.

The former second-round pick owns a .248/.321/.447 slash line which equates to a  .768 OPS this year in Double-A. He has flashed some power, hitting 14 home runs last season and another 15 already this season. He has also stolen 21 bases as well. He has a career .816 OPS in the minor leagues.

Of course, he is not the prospect that the Angels thought he would develop into, but getting a top-20 ranked prospect (per Baseball America) in any team’s system, even one weaker such as the Angels, for a veteran reliever who owns subpar underlying numbers is an intriguing move.

As for the the final move of the day, New York brought in a pair of relievers with extensive MLB experience in Phil Bickford and Adam Kolarek. Bickford has a 5.14 ERA (4.39 FIP) and 48 strikeouts across 42 innings with the Dodgers this season. Before posting a subpar 4.72 ERA in 2021, Bickford was very strong for Los Angeles in 2021 as he had a 2.50 ERA across 50 1/3 innings. He has struggled mightily with walks throughout his career. Bickford is under team control through the 2027 season.

Lastly, Kolarek has only worked 1 1/3 innings in the majors this season, buts own a decent career ERA of 3.73 across 144 2/3 career major-league innings. The unorthodox left-handed pitcher has a 2.40 ERA across 30 innings in Triple-A this season. He is due to be a free agent after the 2025 season.

Note, the first to report the Leone deal was Will Sammon of the Athletic. The first to report the Bickford/Kolarek deal was Robert Murray of FanSided.com.

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