Mets acquire All-Star righty Chris Bassitt from A's

The Mets already had one of the best starting rotations in baseball before the lockout ended. Now, that group has gotten even stronger.

New York acquired right-handed starter Chris Bassitt from Oakland, ESPN's Jeff Passan reports. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, prospects J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller are going back to the A's.

Bassitt joins a group of Mets starters already bolstered this offseason when the team inked Max Scherzer to a three-year, $130 million contract back in November. New York will roll out a rotation headlined by Jacob deGrom, Scherzer and Bassitt with names like Taijuan Walker, Carlos Carrasco and David Peterson also in the mix.

The 33-year-old Bassitt is fresh off the heels of his first All-Star selection last season for the A's. He logged a 3.15 ERA over 27 starts, striking out 159 batters across 157 1/3 innings. He finished the year with a 130 ERA+, meaning he was comfortably better than the league average (100) at his position.

Bassitt had been with the A's since 2015. They acquired him from the White Sox along with Marcus Semien and others following his rookie season. He's been a dominant force in the Oakland rotation ever since, finishing in the top 10 of Cy Young voting in 2020 (eighth) and 2021 (10th).

Ginn is a 22 year old right-handed pitcher who ranks near the top of the Mets' farm system. Oller is a bit older at 27, but after pitching well at Double-A and Triple-A last season, he figures to crack the big leagues sooner rather than later.