The Marlins traded right-handed Jordan Yamamoto to the Mets in exchange for a minor league infielder Federico Polanco, the Mets announced Monday. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, the Mets have appointed an infielder Robel Garcia for assignment. Yamamoto was assigned last week when Miami inked the reliever Anthony Bass on a two-year contract.
24-year-old Yamamoto joined the Marlins as one of four players acquired in the skewed deal that Christian Yelich to Milwaukee. Yamamoto showed promise in a 15-starting debut in 2019, driving a 4.46 ERA through his first 78 2/3 MLB frames, while retiring a quarter of the batters he faced. While that strikeout percentage was above the league average, he also pitched more than an average of 11 percent of the hitters he encountered.
Despite that promising debut, Yamamoto’s 2020 season was a complete disaster. In 11 1/3 innings, he got 23 earned runs on 27 hits – including eight home runs – and seven runs. Obviously, giving up almost a home run per inning isn’t conducive to success, but it’s worth noting that there may have been some physical reasons for his struggles. Yamamoto’s 2019 season ended with an IL placement due to a forearm load, and his average fastball of 89.8 mph in 2020 was nearly two full miles per hour lower.
Yamamoto may not be part of the Mets’ immediate rotation plans, but he’ll be a nice bit of optional depth behind the best starters Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, Marcus Stroman and David Peterson. Currently Yamamoto and fellow trade acquisition Joey Lucchesi perhaps the favorites for fifth place in the rotation now with Steven Matz now a Blue Jay, but the Mets were able to add an experienced starting pitcher to their Opening Day group.
In exchange for Yamamoto, the Marlins get 19-year old Polanco – a versatile, lefthanded infielder who has no further progress than the Dominican Summer League. (He probably would have done that in 2020 had it not been for the fact that there wasn’t a minor league season.) Polanco signed as an amateur from the Dominican Republic in 2017 and last appeared at Mets’ DSL affiliate in 2019, hitting. 299 / .383 / .418 in 231 at bats. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen placed him outside the Top 30 of the Mets earlier this year, noting that he had no power projection and a contact-oriented offensive profile.
Garcia, 27, made his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2019 after a highly unusual path to The Show. The former Indians’ farmhand was off the hooked ball from 2014-18 before the Cubs saw him play for a professional team in Italy. They brought him in to a minor league pact, and Garcia showed off light pole power on Triple-A in 2019 – 21 homers in 296 at bats – before being called up.
The Cubs gave Garcia 80 innings in 2019, and he responded with a lukewarm .208 average and .275 on-base percentage, but still hit .500 thanks to five homers, two doubles and two triples in that short space of time. Garcia also hit out in 35 of those 80 at bats, so while the raw power he possesses is plain to see, there is clearly some work to be done in his approach to the plate. He still has a minor league option, so a team that needs some right-handed infield depth could roll the dice on his considerable raw power. The Mets have a week to trade him, try to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.