With the Red Sox trading De Aza for a minor league pitcher named Luis Ysla, the team was able to obtain an asset on the cheap, instead of keeping a free agent whom was not in their future plans and would have to pay more money to keep around. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that the New York Mets did De Aza that honor:
Source: De Aza contract with #Mets is one year, $5.75M. Also includes $1.25M in incentives. Chance to earn total of $7M. Pending physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 22, 2015
The former Red Sox outfielder played well enough in his contract year to get the big payoff, even if it’s only for one year.