Mets get Adam Kolarek, Phil Bickford from Dodgers in trade

The Mets have traded for pitchers Adam Kolarek and Phil Bickford from the Dodgers for cash considerations, according to Joel Sherman. Having traded away several arms, the Mets could use a couple of arms to add to their mix as the play out the lost 2023 season.

Kolarek was drafted by the Mets back in 2011 but made his major league debut for the Rays in 2017, having been released by the Mets in 2015, picked up by the Orioles shortly thereafter, and taken by Tampa in the Rule 5 draft that December. The 34-year-old lefty has a 3.73 ERA in his major league career, during which he’s thrown 144.2 innings while appearing for the Rays, Dodgers, and A’s.

Bickford was the Giants’ first-round pick in 2015, but he was traded to the Brewers at the deadline in 2016 in a package that sent relief pitcher Will Smith to San Francisco. He made his major league debut in 2020 but threw just one inning that year. He made one appearance for the Brewers early int he 2021 season, too, but the Dodgers claimed him off waivers after that, and he went on to post a 2.81 ERA in a total of 51.1 innings out of the bullpen that year. Since then, however, Bickford has a 4.89 ERA in 103.0 innings spanning the 2022 and 2023 seasons—despite having notched 115 strikeouts along the way. The Dodgers had recently designated him for assignment.