With less than an 30 minutes to go before tonight’s game, the Mets have traded first baseman Ike Davis to the Pittsburgh Pirates Mets for minor league reliever Zack Thornton and a player to be named later, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
An emotional Davis said his goodbyes before finally leaving the clubhouse for good.
“Honestly, it’s a little weird,” Davis said. “I’ve been with the Mets organization for a long time, and made some really good friendships and stuff like that. That’s the toughest part, I think.”
“I really had a blast in New York. I made my dreams come true, childhood dreams come true, playing in the big leagues here. But it’s just a stepping-stone. It happens to a lot of people, getting traded. Now [I’ll] go help my team in Pittsburgh.”
Thornton, who turns 26 in three weeks, was pitching at AAA Indianapolis with Pirates and was 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA in four relief appearances. He was originally selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 23rd round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Oregon.
Adam Rubin spoke to an MLB Executive with another MLB team who labeled Zack Thornton a soft tosser and noted he was passed over by 29 clubs — including Mets — in Rule 5 draft. Thornton will report to the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas.
Manager Terry Collins made a short comment when told Davis had been traded:
“Our job is not to give players away. There’d better be something come back that you can use that’s of same value.”
Sandy Alderson told reporters that it was time to make a deal. John Harper of the Daily News passed along that the Mets GM is excited about Thornton and really seemed excited about the player to be named later too.
Jon Heyman, who first broke the news, said that Mets settled for a lot less than Tyler Thornburg or Eduardo Rodriguez, but that the PTBNL will be more significant than Thornton.
In trading away Davis, the Mets also shave about $3.5 million in salary from their payroll. They have also made a full commitment to Lucas Duda.
Let’s face it, something had to give. This was something that had to be done. Lets just hope it works out all the way around for us.
Best of luck to Ike in the Burgh…
