By Mike Rifkin
The MLB trade deadline has come and gone, there were winners and losers. Teams asked themselves if they should go all in or if they should hold onto some top prospects and have some flexibility for the winter and beyond. One of those teams who had this question : the New York Mets.
The Mets struggled early this season, starting 0-5 and falling 11 games under .500 in May, back then people were talking about the Mets selling Pete Alonso, Luis Severino, etc… But since June the Mets have been one of the hottest teams in baseball, and made new President Of Baseball Ops David Stearns change course. But the question was would Stearns go all in in a “evaluation” year? In past offseasons Steve Cohen and the Mets have been aggressive in free agency, throwing money at future Hall Of Famers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. That plan didn’t work and last year at the trade deadline the Mets said they’d pay the bulk of both salaries in exchange for better prospects. This winter Steve Cohen hired David Stearns to be the President of Baseball Ops, the same position he held with the Milwaukee Brewers. Stears put together some really good teams in Milwaukee and made some big deals, but he never had Steve Cohen’s wallet with him.
So fast forward to this past few weeks, when Met players were basically begging the organization to help them at the deadline. Stearns did just that, as he added three relievers ( Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton, and Huascar Brazoban), a starting pitcher (Paul Blackburn), and a Left handed bench player (Jesse Winker). Stearns did all of this without having to pluck from the top of the thirteenth best farm system according to MLB Pipeline (entering the season).
By not going “All in” for a guy like Blake Snell at the deadline the Mets put themselves in an interesting position this winter. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer both should come off the Mets payroll, Starling Marte will have one year left on his deal and then there’s the impending free agency of Pete Alonso. But for Stearns and Cohen they’ll have some financial flexibility as well as trade chips to use. So if the Mets miss out on signing Corbin Burnes this winter, would they use some of their trade chips on a Tarik Skubal from the Tigers (Although I still don’t know why Detroit would move him). But the Mets not only have a wallet to go out and sign players, but they’re building a farm system that can help them as well. That farm system is looking good on the Major League level right now with how Mark Vientos and Fransisco Alvaerz have performed this season.
The Mets have organizational depth and with David Stearns, who did well in his first trade deadline. The Mets have a very intriguing winter ahead of them, meanwhile the team is in the thick of the wildcard race, Stearns and Cohen couldn’t have asked for a better season, but both of them are thinking about the long term.
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