It was a good old fashioned veteran-for-veteran trade made by the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets. They teamed up and traded second baseman Neil Walker and starting pitcher Jonathon Niese, pending medicals.
According to CBS Sports, Walker will take the place of New York Mets second base after free agent Daniel Murphy left and the club missed out on signing Ben Zobrist who was acquired by the Chicago Cubs.
Walker is just a year away from being a free agent. He hit .269/.328/.472 with 32 doubles and 16 home runs last season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Walker can help the New York Mets for a year by playing defense at second until the team will know more if they can give the position to Dilson Herrera next season.
Niese, on the other hand, was 9-10 with 4.13 ERA and 1.40 WHIP last season with the New York Mets. He might be a free agent after next season as there is a $10 million club option in 2017. With the Pittsburgh Pirates, Niese now would be the fifth starter behind Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano. There is also a possibility that they add a cheap free agent like Justin Masterson to the mix.
"It's an exciting opportunity, obviously, with the success the Mets have had this past year," Walker said, on a report from ESPN.
"I'm really excited about the opportunity. Obviously there's mixed emotions being a born and bred Pittsburgher, and obviously not knowing yet the other organization. It's definitely been a whirlwind day and something my wife Niki, who also is from the same area that I'm from in Pittsburgh, and I are dealing with -- all the emotions that are coming with what's going on with new lives that we're about to embark on."