Five months after making him their highest-paid relief pitcher, the Tampa Bay Rays have traded Phil Maton to the New York Mets for either cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Jul 6, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Phil Maton (88) in action during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded right-handed relief pitcher Phil Maton to the New York Mets, the teams announced Tuesday evening.

The Mets agreed to send either a player to be named later or cash considerations back to the Rays. To make room on their roster for Maton, New York designated left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi for assignment.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, was able to recall right-handed pitcher Manuel Rodríguez from Triple-A Durham.

Maton inked a one-year, $6.25 million contract with the Rays in February, giving him the fifth-largest salary on the team for 2024. Tampa Bay also had a $7.75 million club option on Maton’s deal for 2025 that included a $250K buyout.

Even before they shipped Maton and his contract off to Queens, though, the Rays were unlikely to pick that option up.

Maton was 1-2 with a 4.58 ERA, 1.330 WHIP, 7.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.2 WAR through 40 appearances this season.

“Not the way we envisioned it, both the team’s record at this point and Phil’s contributions,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said to reporters after the trade was finalized. “Certainly, he’s been throwing the ball better lately. But look, when it came down to it, it’s a situation where we have Manny Rodríguez – who’s coming – the way he’s been throwing the ball, wanted to create an opportunity, a more sustained opportunity, for him with the major league club and this was the path we chose to do it.”

Between the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, Maton went 4-5 with a 3.42 ERA, 1.185 WHIP, 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.7 WAR. He appeared in 67 and 68 games in his two full seasons with the Houston Astros, as well as 65 games with the Astros and Cleveland Guardians in 2021.

For his career, Maton is 17-14 with a 4.28 ERA, 1.326 WHIP, 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.1 WAR.

The 31-year-old righty is now set to join a Mets bullpen that ranks 18th in MLB with a 4.16 ERA.

The Rays currently rank 24th with a 4.43 ERA. Rodríguez, who is taking Maton’s spot on the roster, is 1-1 with a 2.79 ERA across nine MLB outings this season. The 27-year-old is also 1-0 with a 1.09 ERA with Triple-A Durham in 2024.