Mets Sign Another Reliever to Minor-League Contract

The Mets have inked LHP Luis Avilan to a minor-league deal. With the White Sox and Phillies in 2018, in 70 games (45.1 IP) he had a 3.77 ERA, a K/9 of 10.13, and BB/9 of 3.57. 

The Mets are his fifth team. Previously, he also pitched for the Braves and Dodgers, starting his MLB career with Atlanta in 2012.

When the Phillies traded for him in August 2018, here's a comment in mlb.com that their manager made:

"He's really good vs. lefties," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said of Avilan. "And as you know, Washington and Atlanta, it's nice to have the left-handed weapon. He had faced 77 left-handed batters this year, four extra-base hits, no home runs, five walks, [21] strikeouts. It's going to be a nice weapon for us to have. And given the fact that Aaron Loup was on the DL, that was a really, really smart acquisition by [general manager] Matt [Klentak] and puts us in a much better position going forward."

Though the article in mlb.com also said, "Avilan cannot become a free agent until after the 2019 season, so he could help the Phillies beyond this season, too," the Phillies didn’t offer him a new contract. 

Since 2015, Luis Avilan’s ERA has been below the MLB average and much lower against lefties than righties: See the graph at https://bit.ly/2RmbYYt.