MMO Roundtable: Here's What We Grade The Mets Trade Deadline

We shared with you what our perfect Mets trade deadline would look like. We knew moves had to be done and changes had to have been made. So, did it shape up how we wanted it to? Here are the grades our team would give Stearns and company.

Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Johnluke Chaparro

I had to actually sit and process this a little bit, mainly due to hoping that they could have gotten more for certain players. Maybe I might be a bit delusional than my counterparts here, but the more I looked at what was done, the more I lean towards liking the returns a bit more than I initially did when the trade happened. Rojas, Mathis, Pitre and Stafura intrigue me and as someone mentioned here, they also obtained a few high upside arms that they can hope to develop into talent they can either utilize on the roster or in trade for other major league talent.

I wasn’t expecting any groundbreaking or earth shattering but I was hoping that in the very least, they’d get someone who could play on the major league roster right now. Every trade I was okay with, except the Weaver trade. I honestly felt that Weaver could have been an asset here next season, especially if the team intends to contend in 2027.

That said, I can’t say the Mets didn’t address some needs and replenish the farm system, which seems to be the key focus the organization is looking to stay with, so I’m not too upset at how the trade deadline transpired. I just hope that these trades or players can contribute in a meaningful way at some point, whether they wear the orange and blue, or are used as chips for someone else to wear the orange and blue.

Grade: B-

David Melendi

I am glad Stearns moved everyone he could, but he has lost the benefit of the doubt from me. Steve Somers, my favorite WFAN radio host called potential a “French word for maybe.” How many of the 13 minor leaguers acquired will be productive in the majors? We will see.

Grade: C

Sammy Stafura. Photo by Greensboro Grasshoppers

Michael Mayer

I would give the Mets trade deadline a B. I was leaning closer towards a C before talking to more people about Sammy Stafura. That’s the deal I least liked with the initial reaction because the return felt light given Luke Weaver isn’t a rental. That said, people I talked to who know way more about prospects throughout the league thought it was a fair yet risky return for Weaver. There’s plenty of upside for a player like Stafura: solid defensive middle infielder with pop. I do think, in general seeing the comments on MMO and in the replies on Twitter, that most fans had unrealistic expectations for the returns of rental middle relievers. Sure, both Minter and Raley were good for the Mets, but they’ve both had injury concerns over the last couple of years, underlying metrics aren’t as good as ERA and Raley is 38 years old.

The obvious big haul was getting Jefferson Rojas, and for me, he instantly becomes the best prospect in the Mets system. And he’s not that far off, he’s played pretty well (114 wRC+) in Double-A games and could see some Triple-A action before the season ends. I believe the Mets got a good mixture of prospects back: one top 100 player (Rojas), one borderline top 100 (Stafura), a helium prospect (Pitre). arms with interesting pitch traits (Gabe Davis, Gary Gill Hill, Luke Gabrysh), big time power (Billy Amick), buy low on injured players (Cole Mathis, Bruin Agbayani), a former topish organization prospect (Aidan Smith) and close to majors reliever (Zach Franklin).

Rojas is certainly the best prospect the Mets got, but the deal with the best grade for me is the Huascar Brazoban for Davis and Franklin deal. That one is an easy A+, one of those guys straight up for Brazoban would’ve been a good deal for the Mets. I believe Franklin is up this year and could have similar value to Brazoban as early as next year. And Davis has a starter repertoire with the downside of being a strong reliever profile with his fastball/slider. I think the Peralta deal is fine because of how he performed this year and the group of prospects they got is definitely better than what you likely read on MLB Pipeline (let’s talk about this more later).

Mathias Altman-Kurosaki

It’s really hard to grade a deadline like this, since the Mets only really acquired prospects. I was a little disappointed they didn’t get more for Luke Weaver. Sammy Stafura has made great improvements this year, but feels like not enough for the best reliever on the market. However, I was impressed with getting Jefferson Rojas for Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor. They received a number interesting prospects in each deal, which is about as much as you could ask for when trading mostly rentals. I think they did better than expected in the Freddy Peralta, A.J. Minter and Huascar Brazobán deals, and got about what you’d expect for a 38-year-old rental in Brooks Raley.

Overall, I give the Mets a B for this deadline.

Zach Franklin, Photo Credit: Jim Margalus of Sox Machine

Jack Ramsey

I’ll give the Mets a B for this deadline. Much like Mike said, the prizes of Rojas and Stafura are incredibly intriguing, Pitre is a fast riser, and several other new names are going to be interesting to follow. I’d argue the team added 10 new prospects to their top 30, which helps a ton given that their recent drafts have been lackluster and light on high-end talent.

I think fans sort of developed unrealistic expectations for deadline returns: rental relievers (especially non-elite and older arms) never net a huge return, every player’s market is different, and fan/media perspective of a player’s value is different from what the league’s perspective is. Fans might have thought Weaver would net more, but his value was clearly less than what fans thought it would be. Overall, the Mets could have two top-100 prospects from this group alone, and multiple players who can impact the 2027 roster. David Stearns did good work to maximize what was movable from this disappointing roster

Andrew Steele-Davis

I will go with a Grade C because I think a lot of this prospect capital will be used to strengthen the big league roster in the offseason, so it is hard to judge right now. However, with that said, I thought getting Jefferson Rojas back in the Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor trade was a really smart move. He has a tremendous amount of upside and it was important the Mets got a Top 100 prospect at the deadline. I still think they could have got more in the Luke Weaver deal, and the other big disappointment was not moving Luis Robert Jr. The rest of this season needs to be about developing the rookies further, and I’m worried some of their playing time will now be taken away by Robert Jr.. Overall, this is a tough trade deadline to grade because, again, I think the moves made are just the precursor to bigger things to come in the offseason

Robert Colonna

As the day went on and I was able to get more information on the players back my view of the Mets trade returns improved. The Weaver trade in particular I became more bullish on after learning about Stafura’s recent swing change and exit velocities.

Overall I would give it a B+. Based on the criteria I set before I cannot give it an A because the Mets did not get back an established major league starter or hitter. Not many were moved so maybe that is unfair, but this is something that could have benefited the Mets before a weak free agency class in the offseason.

What they did get was significant upside, filling organizational gaps that needed to be filled. They got back three clear potential top 100 prospects in Rojas, Pitre and Stafura as well as Mathis who could make that case if he can stay healthy.

They also grabbed a number of high upside arms with skill sets the Mets are good at optimizing as well as some arms that could be in the majors now. They also grabbed some upside hitters that are in need of a swing change and could increase their potential if they can make that change.

This deadline was about as successful as could be when a team is only selling. They grabbed guys with upside, guys close to the majors, guys that filled organization need, and guys with value that can be flipped for major league pieces.

Overall I give it a solid B+.