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Mets Making Moves, Yankees Silent as Free Agency Resumes

There is a different feel right now around the two  New York baseball teams. Typically the Yankees are the ones spending big money at free agents, while the Mets are…

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 28: Chris Bassitt #40 of the Oakland Athletics throws a pitch during the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 28, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

There is a different feel right now around the two  New York baseball teams. Typically the Yankees are the ones spending big money at free agents, while the Mets are counting their pennies. This year has been the complete opposite so far.

In this new post-lockout era, the Mets have been busy, picking up right where they left off in December. On Saturday, the Mets traded a pair of minor league players to the Oakland A's for right-handed starter Chris Bassitt, and inking free agent reliever Adam Ottavino to a one-year deal.

In Bassitt the Mets get a middle-of-the-rotation starter, who was 12-4 with a 3.15 ERA last year in Oakland. In 2020 Bassitt came in eighth in the AL Cy Young vote after posting a 2.29 ERA in 11 starts. He has a good mid-90's fastball that has a lot of movement, and a killer curve ball that comes in between 73 to 75 mph.

If he continues to pitch at the rate he has the past two seasons, he is going to be a welcome addition. It is interesting to note, Bassitt is a free-agent after the 2022 season.

Ottavino is no stranger to New York having pitched for the Yankees in 2019 and 2020. After a great year in 2019 where he posted a 1.90 ERA for New York, he was 2-3 with a 5.89 ERA in only 24 appearances in 2020. The Yankees traded him away to Boston without even thinking twice, and he was just 'ok' for the Red Sox last season.

While his name won't jump off the page, Ottavino is a veteran and a much needed arm in the Mets bullpen.

Speaking of the Yankees, word came down Sunday that Gio Urshela is expected to be the Yankees starting short stop this season.

The Yankees have been linked to the likes of Carlos Correa and Trevor Story all  off-season, but the likelihood is they will bypass paying big bucks to a top free agent, since Anthony Volpe is closer and closer to becoming Major League ready. Volpe might even find himself starting for the Somerset Patriots this summer.

Michael Cohen is the News and Sports Director at Fox Sports Radio New Jersey and Magic 98.3 FM, as well as a radio production assistant with Fox and Magic in New Jersey. He started his career in Somerset in 2018 initially as a news fill-in at WCTC 1450 AM, and soon moved up to higher responsibilities in the ensuing years, assuming News & Sports Director title in 2021Prior to his time with Fox Sports New Jersey, Michael was play-by-play voice for New Jersey Jackals baseball, and as well as play-by-play and color for the College of Staten Island basketball (men and women), softball and baseball. Michael began his career as a news and sportswriter with the Jersey Journal of Hudson County.