Sources: Mets agree to deal with reliever Wilson
Reliever Justin Wilson has agreed to a two-year deal with the New York Mets worth $10 million, according to sources.
The deal includes $500,000 in performance bonuses each year.
The left-handed Wilson has an upper-90s fastball and, on the surface, he had a solid year for the Chicago Cubs in 2018. He went 4-5 with a 3.46 ERA in 71 appearances, striking out 69 in 54.2 innings.
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But there were times of inconsistency, which might follow him to his new team. Simply put, he walked too many hitters (33). However, he was especially effective against left-handed hitters, who only hit .190 off him while reaching base just 30 percent of the time — much better than the .350 on-base mark he compiled against righties.
A sign of his up-and-down performance can be seen in the win probability stat: He was a sum 0.0 — plus-4.8 in positive events and a minus-4.8 in negative events. Overall, he was effective, just not always reliable in some big spots.
Wilson is 26-19 with a 3.33 ERA in 412 relief appearances over six big league seasons that also included time with the Pittsburgh Pirates (2012 to 2014), New York Yankees (2015) and the Detroit Tigers (2016 and 2017).
The deal was first reported by The Athletic.
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.