To David Stearns, the story of the week for the Mets isn’t the players they acquired at the trade deadline; it’s about the players they gave up.
The Mets turned 10 minor leaguers and one big league reliever into two high-end relievers, one left-handed high-leverage reliever, and an athletic center fielder, trading for right-handers Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley, left-hander Gregory Soto and outfielder Cedric Mullins over the last week. They gave up one pitching prospect who was ranked highly in their own system (right-handed starter Blade Tidwell), but not among baseball’s top-100 prospects.
“Our amateur talent acquisition departments and our player development group put us in position to be able to have this type of deadline,” the Mets president of baseball operations said Thursday on a Zoom call. “We were able to go out and acquire players that we think are really going to help us at the major league level, and not touch some really high upside players at the top of our system.”
Those high-upside prospects include right-handed starters Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, and infielder Jett Williams. The club also kept all four of their young infielders who are currently on the major league roster, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio.
While it wasn’t exactly surprising that the Mets kept all four of them, it was surprising that the club didn’t acquire a starting pitcher.
Injuries have key starters limited in the pitches they can throw, and Clay Holmes appears to have run out of gas as a starter, but Stearns endorsed him as a starter, much as manager Carlos Mendoza did Wednesday.
“I think Clay, from a physical standpoint, is in really good shape, I think the stuff, for the most part, has still been there,” Stearns said. “But you’re right — we’ve got to get a little deeper into games. Clearly, Clay knows that. He’s working hard to do that, and I think we’ll be able to see it.”
The starting pitching market wasn’t what the Mets, or other teams, expected. There were about 10 starters moved. The Mets opted not to grab bigger names like J.P. Sears, Merrill Kelly, Bailey Falter or Shane Bieber.
The rest of the group was less intriguing: Mike Soroka, who hasn’t posted an ERA under 3.00 since 2019; veteran right-hander Charlie Morton, who is 41 and started the season 0-7 with an 8.35 ERA in his first 11 starts, but has an ERA of 2.88 since; former Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes, who has made only two starts this year; and rookie right-hander Ryan Berget, who is having a very good season, but is ultimately still unproven.
Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera are still with the Miami Marlins. The club is trying to make a push for a Wild Card spot.
“There were some starting pitchers that were ultimately traded, [but] probably not every starting pitcher that was rumored to be traded was available was ultimately moved,” Stearns said. “We were engaged, as I’ve said throughout. You know, I think there are multiple ways to build a pitching staff, and we focused on the back end of the pitching staff, the bullpen.
“We’re really happy with the arms were able to acquire who we’re going to pitch out of our ‘pen.”
The question now becomes, where do the kids play, and how often will they play? The Mets still have Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte who need at-bats as well. Marte has been productive when healthy over the last few months, and McNeil has seen the bulk of his playing time in center field.
Stearns still sees McNeil as a useful outfielder, but said he’ll get DH at-bats and more time at his primary position, second base. He’s the best everyday second baseman on the roster between the offense and defense he provides, but that means Brett Baty, who plays second and third, will have to fight for playing time with McNeil at second and Mauricio and Vientos at third.
It could mean lesser roles for Baty and Acuña, who is a great defender at infield and center field, but can’t yet hit at the big-league level consistently. The Mets have been dividing up playing time based on matchups, and they’ll continue to do so, though to what extent is unknown.
“I think all of those guys are going to get plenty of time,” Stearns said. “Is there going to be one or two guys on the bench each day? Yeah, and then they’re probably going to get a really leverage pinch-hitter at-bat late in the game. I think Mandy does a great job of figuring out who the right guys are for the lineup, given who we’re facing, the attributes of the opposing pitcher, and the attributes of the opposing bullpen.”
This isn’t about capitalizing on a championship “window” of sorts this year. This was about giving the Mets a chance to win a World Series, which is now a perennial goal. Stearns thinks he accomplished that.
“I don’t view this as a window,” Stearns said. “Our responsibility here is to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs and ultimately, win a World Series every single year.”
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