When Kodai Senga went down clutching his left calf last Friday night at Citi Field, it changed the trajectory of the trade deadline for the Mets, but not by much. Starting pitchers Garrett Crochet, Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell could have replaced the Mets ace, but the pitching prices were already high.
And when the Houston Astros overpaid for left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi on Monday night they skyrocketed.
Instead, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns improved his team around the margins without giving up any top talent. In his first year overseeing the Mets baseball ops efforts, the New York City native accomplished nearly everything he intended to accomplish without giving up high-end prospects.
“Overall, we were looking to add to the team in a variety of different ways, [like] adding some quality arms to the ‘pen, and after Senga’s injury, trying to fortify our rotation a little bit. And then add a lefty bat,” Stearns said Tuesday at Citi Field. “So to be able to come away doing that, it’s good and we’re happy with where we’re at.”
The Mets acquired right-handed starter Paul Blackburn and right-handed relievers Huascar Brazobán and Tyler Zuber on Tuesday, as well as right-handed relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek earlier this month. The team acquired left-handed DH/outfielder Jesse Winker over the weekend. It’s not a sexy haul by any means, but there is no doubt the Mets got better in July and are in position to contend for one of three NL Wild Card playoff spots.
The team entered Tuesday night in second place in the Wild Card standings.
Stearns emphasized “balance” and “roster flexibility,” which are important things. Retaining top prospects is also important, especially now that the Mets have overhauled their player development system and are starting to graduate prospects to the major leagues. All three pitchers acquired Tuesday are under team control through at least next season.
“That’s part of some of the transactions we made,” Stearns said. “There was a desire to have some control over certain players. We acquired players who can help us, not only this year, but into the future.”
Going small and looking for ways to fortify and supplement the pieces the Mets already have was a safe and smart course of action. It limited the inherently risky nature of July trades. However, there was an argument to be made for taking a big swing and replacing Senga.
Stearns acknowledged that he wasn’t in a position to look for players that could help in October. What he was after was players who could help in August and September. But without a staff ace to start off a tough series, the Mets will have to rely on shaky starters like Tylor Megill.
It might be fine to pitch him against the Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies, but the Mets have to hold off Wild Card contenders like San Diego and Arizona on the road this month. They’ll also see the top two teams in the division on the road again next month.
Sure, they added more firepower with Blackburn, but how powerful is that fire?
Stearns believes moves like that can be powerful. He stands behind the decisions he made.
Unlike his predecessor Billy Eppler, the Mets’ first-year exec considered moving top-10 prospects. He acknowledged receiving plenty of calls from other teams on “every single one” of their top prospects. There were also calls made about established big leaguers on the roster.
But again, Stearns wanted to balance the future with the present by giving the 2024 Mets a chance to reach the postseason while also giving the 2025 and 2026 Mets a chance to contend.
“We don’t take anyone off the table,” Stearns said. “There isn’t an organizational philosophy to just say we’re not going to talk about anyone. I think that ties your hands a little bit. But clearly, we value some of our top prospects very highly. We think they’re going to contribute here for a long time, and we were very mindful of that as we went through the process.”
Stearns made calls about top pitchers available, but once the market went bananas and the prices became exorbitant, he set a course for the Mets and stuck to it. Swinging for the fences is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. Sometimes all you have to do is put the ball in play and see what happens.
The ball is in play for the Mets with an improved bullpen and a left-handed bat that can crush right-handed pitching. Stearns is ready to see what happens.
“The plan coming into the season was to compete and make the playoffs,” Stearns said. “That was the plan, and that remains the plan, so I think where we are right now doesn’t really matter. We got here. We got to a place where we are a playoff-caliber team, we believe we’re a playoff-caliber team, and we did what we thought was the right thing to do in adding to certain components of the team.”
