The Mets used their Rule 5 draft to wheel and deal Thursday, selecting right-hander Luis Oviedo from the Indians for the purpose of trading him to the Pirates for cash considerations.

Oviedo, a 21-year-old Venezuela native, was ranked by MLB.com as Cleveland’s No. 25 prospect. Given his age and inexperience (he pitched at the Class A level in 2019), he’s a better fit for a rebuilding club like Pittsburgh than the Mets, who are hoping to contend in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Mets lost right-hander Dedniel Nunez, a 24-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, to the Giants in the draft. Nunez split his 2019 between Class A St. Lucie and Class A Columbia, totaling a 4.39 ERA in 16 games, 15 of them starts, totaling 80 innings. MLB.com ranked him as the Mets’ 18th best prospect.

Teams pay $100,000 to select a player in the Rule 5 draft and must keep the player on their big-league roster for the entire subsequent season or, in the event they don’t want to do that, must offer the player back to his original team for $50,000. Players must stay active on the roster for at least 90 days (in a normal-length season). Therefore, if the Giants decide not to keep Nunez, the Mets will have the opportunity to reacquire him.

In the minor-league phase of the draft, which imposes no roster conditions or protections for players selected, the Mets added five players (outfielder Drew Ferguson, right-hander Justin Dillon, shortstop Drew Jackson, right-hander Jesus Reyes and left-hander Jose Zorrilla) and lost four (middle infielder Sebastian Espino, catcher Wilfred Astudillo, right-hander Ezequiel Zabaleta and second baseman Mitchell Tolman).