The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Wednesday afternoon that they have traded minor league pitcher Daniel Zamora and cash considerations to the New York Mets in exchange for lefty reliever Josh Smoker. The Mets designated Smoker for assignment on Friday.
The 29-year-old Smoker has pitched two seasons in the majors for the Mets, posting a 5.02 ERA, a 4.77 FIP and a 1.62 WHIP in 74 appearances. Over 71.2 innings, he has a a 93:36 SO/BB ratio and he’s surrendered 14 home runs. He has just over one year of service time in the majors. He has two options remaining.
Zamora was a 40th round draft pick in 2015, who has already made it to Altoona. He is also a lefty reliever, who features a fastball that sits around 90 MPH and a wipeout slider that is extremely effective on left-handed batters. He has a 2.96 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP, with 133 strikeouts in 115.2 innings over four levels since signing.
The Pirates just recently lost lefty reliever Nik Turley to an 80-game suspension, which begins on Opening Day. Smoker appears to be a replacement for him at this point, though he has more big league experience and success, plus has the options remaining, which Turley didn’t have anymore. The interesting part is that Smoker is worse against left-handed batters so far in his big league career. They have an .855 OPS against him, versus an .807 mark from righties.
Smoker throws hard, averaging 95 MPH on his fastball this year, which was down from 96.1 MPH last year. That’s strong velocity for a lefty, who also has a solid breaking ball for his secondary pitch. He doesn’t have the best numbers, but the high strikeout rate seems to be appealing to the Pirates this off-season, acquiring a similar (results-wise) pitcher in Michael Feliz in the Gerrit Cole trade.
The Pirates had an open spot on the 40-man roster due to the Turley suspension, so no other roster move needs to be made.