How would you grade Craig Breslow’s trade deadline? Wait! Don’t answer that. Partially because it’s November and partially because we only care about one name right now: Steven Matz.
A product of the New York Mets, Matz has had a rather unspectacular career. He finished 6th in Rookie of the Year voting back in 2016 and that was his best season in New York He spent a year in Toronto in 2021 and wowed Canada with his stuff over 29 starts. That would be the second best season of his career. That brought him to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he had up and down seasons while serving as a starter and a reliever. After putting up ERAs north of 5.00 in two of the first three years in Cardinal red (though FIPs gave a bit of value back) no one really expected 2025 to be much better. And while heading into his walk year and making 30 of his 32 appearances out of the bullpen, Matz rehabilitated his value. He was rewarded with a ticket to Boston and, eventually, the playoffs.
Somewhat lost in the trade deadline drama surrounding Joe Ryan and Dustin May is the fact that Matz was really solid. In fact, he was more than that — though with some qualifiers to be discussed below. The Sox needed lefty support and he provided it. In 11 of his 21 appearances with Boston he tossed at least one inning and didn’t allow a run. There were several outings of more than an inning as well, which helped Alex Cora manage the ‘pen when Whitlock and Chapman weren’t pitching in the game at the moment. Which happened more than you’d think for a bullpen that was, overall, pretty good.
Well, it wasn’t all sunshine and puppies. His 2.08 ERA looks better than a 4.84 FIP. He struck out just 12 over 21.2 innings, low even for him. And he allowed four home runs. Plus four in St. Louis in twice the work. For unfair context, Garrett Whitlock allowed tw0 homers all year.
I’ll go with August 25 against the Orioles. In Baltimore. After Brennan Bernadino is used as an opener and Richard Fitts comes in for bulk relief – shrinking a 4-0 lead to 4-3 in the process – there are still four innings left. And Bernadino had already pitched! Matz comes in for 2.0 innings of scoreless relief and hands the lead to Whitlock and Chapman to close out the win.
Is Steven Matz a reliever? It seems like after 2025 the answer is a definitive yes. This was his best performance in a while and, homers aside, he often got the job done in a way that eluded him much of his career.
Will Craig Breslow seek a reunion with Matz? The lefty is a free agent and made $12.5 million each of the last three seasons. Though St. Louis probably thought that was more “starting pitcher on the cheap” than reliever. If he’s back he wouldn’t be able to be optioned to the minors, which is a common bullpen trick these days, for better or worse. Which would make him, like Jordan Hicks, difficult to keep in a roster spot if he is struggling. Given that Jordan Hicks is already here, it’s hard to have two rather unpredictable “relievers who used to start and require MLB deals.”
