In 2017, when the Mets were crashing and burning, they traded many of their veteran players to various teams for various spare parts. Mostly they got back a grab bag of prospects, each one more disappointing than the last. However, when the Mets traded Lucas Duda to the Tampa Bay Rays, they got an intriguing relief prospect who ended up being the most usable of the bunch.
Drew Smith was drafted by the Tigers in 2015 and was traded to the Rays early in 2017, and a few months later found his way to the Mets in the Duda trade.