If the New York Mets are just going to trade their most valuable major league assets for salary relief, rather than to try to improve the club, then it's time for MLB to step in and force the Wilpons to sell the team, just as the league did with Frank McCourt and the Dodgers. Trading Jeurys Familia for two fringe-at-best prospects is not how any team, regardless of payroll level, should operate in this environment. For a franchise that operates in the largest market in the league to do this -- and do so ten days before the trade deadline rather than waiting for someone to offer a legitimate return -- is embarrassing for the Mets and for Major League Baseball as a whole.

Familia has been quite effective this year for the Mets, with a sub-3.00 ERA and sub-3.00 FIP pushing his value over 1.0 WAR in 40 ? innings, in line with what he did from 2014 to 2016 before a 2017 season marred by a suspension for a domestic violence incident and a sudden bout of wildness. He has also been throwing more sliders than ever this year, and it's working for him, as he gets way more swings and misses on the slider (20.5 percent) than on his fastball (10.0 percent). The Oakland Athletics didn't need a proven closer, with Blake Treinen dominating in that role for them, and Familia is more of the same -- another right-handed reliever with a platoon split issue, with Familia's issue more of a concern than Treinen's right now. Adding Familia makes the Athletics' late-game right-handed bullpen corps stronger, and they did so at virtually no cost to their system.

The North Marlins get salary relief and two guys who might appear in the majors but don't project to have much value. Bobby Wahl is a right-handed reliever who throws hard, up to 96 mph, but he doesn't have much secondary stuff and has below-average command and control. He has often been hurt and has never thrown 55 innings in a professional season. Occasionally guys like this find a second life somewhere in their late 20s, picking up a new pitch or making an adjustment that lets them throw more strikes, but Wahl has been in relief for most of his pro career, and it hasn't happened yet.

Will Toffey is a good defensive third baseman with below-average hit and power tools. I know his father and J.P. Ricciardi, one part of the Mets' interim GM structure, are friends, but I don't know if that was a factor in the deal. He's probably just an org player who might eke out some big-league time from his glove.

The international slot money the Mets are getting is probably the most valuable part of the return, and that is utterly embarrassing for a marquee franchise in the largest market in the sport. Dealing major league players with immediate value for petty cash isn't the way to run a low-revenue franchise like Tampa Bay or, well, Oakland. It's damaging to the sport when it's happening to a team in New York City.