Oakland A's trade Eric O'Flaherty to New York Mets for player to be named later or cash

The New York Mets have acquired Oakland Athletics left-handed reliever Eric O'Flaherty and cash considerations for a player to be named later or cash. The A's designated O'Flaherty for assignment to call up Aaron Brooks to start last Saturday. O'Flaherty has approximately $1.8 million remaining on his two-year deal.

The Mets were looking for a left-hander, and the Mets asked Tyler Clippard for a reference:

Mets coaches quizzed Tyler Clippard about O'Flaherty before pulling trigger on trade.

— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) August 5, 2015

New York's interest was also helped along due to another former Athletics reliever:

With Mets' competitiveness, didn't want to wait for Jerry Blevins. Will be happy to have both eventually.

— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) August 5, 2015

The A's were never going to get much for O'Flaherty, who struggled to a 5.91 ERA in 21⅓ innings with 15 strikeouts and 13 walks allowed. I suggested on Saturday that a deal for O'Flaherty could look like the Jonathan Broxton deal that came down before the trade deadline expired, picking up a very low minors flyer while taking on most of the reliever's salary.

Against left-handers, O'Flaherty has allowed a .186/.286/.209 line in 50 plate appearances. The only extra base hit he allowed was a double, and he struck out 13 batters compared to six walks.