Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Oakland Athletics have signed former Mets reliever Jerry Blevins to a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. San Francisco Chronicle writer Susan Slusser was the first to report that the two sides had been nearing an agreement earlier today.
The 35-year old lefty first joined the Mets at the onset of the 2015 season, when he was acquired in a trade with the Washington Nationals for Matt den Dekker. Though a hand fracture in early-May ultimately cost him the rest of the season, he re-signed ahead of 2016 on the back of his perfect five innings of work, and continued his success through his next two seasons in New York.
In that time, he managed a 2.87 ERA with 121 strikeouts through 91 innings, with his curveball sitting fourth in the league at 13.3 runs above average (first among southpaws).
His best work came against left-handed hitters, who compiled a measly .220/.279/.259 clip in 245 plate appearances. His 1.13 FIP against them was the lowest in the big leagues in that time, his 8.0 K/BB ratio sixth, and his 93.9% strand-rate eighth.
2018 was a different story for Blevins, who set a career-high in walks per nine innings with 4.6 while his strikeouts dipped to 8.6 – his lowest mark since 2013. His splits curiously reversed, with lefties mashing a .785 OPS against righties’ .682. Between questions of overuse and a loss of feel for the once-vaunted curveball, Blevins’ 34.2% hard-hit rate (another career-high) did little to help his case as a standout arm in a crowded pool of free agent relievers.
Nonetheless, he will have every chance to contribute to his former team in Oakland, where he posted a 3.02 ERA and 3.1 bWAR in over 200 innings between 2010 and 2013 en route to two playoff appearances. He is due to make $1.5MM in 2019 should he crack the big league roster at any point.
