Photo Credit: Corey Sipkin of New York Post
Maybe the hopes were too high. Maybe the market played out differently. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
The reality remains the same. The New York Mets and general manager Billy Eppler failed to do enough at the 2022 trade deadline.
New York came away with two lefty platoon bats, a right-handed platoon bat, and a singular reliever.
Maybe we’d be singing a different tune if those platoon bats were of the quality of J.D. Martinez or a relief pitcher like David Robertson. They didn’t. Eppler failed to match the asks for any of the Mets top targets like Martinez, Robertson, Willson Contreras, Christian Vazquez, Andrew Chafin, and Michael Fulmer.
Now they have Darin Ruf, Tyler Naquin, Daniel Vogelbach, and Mychal Givens. No left-handed pen arm and no catcher with a pulse of offense.
Devastating.
The Mets successfully blocked their most MLB-ready prospect by trading two 2021 draft picks for a player with negative WAR this season. The Mets didn’t correct their offseason mistake of adding a left-handed arm in the pen. The Mets likely aren’t going to call up the number one prospect in baseball that plays the position they need the most help at.
Let’s just go move-by-move.
Last week the Mets traded Colin Holderman to the Pirates for Vogelbach. Holderman, a rookie with a 2.04 ERA in 15 games this season, was justified as movable because of Eppler’s expectations for a “robust” relief pitching market.
That market turned out to be losing their top pen target to the Phillies, the Atlanta Braves adding Raisel Iglesias, and the Padres getting one of the best relievers in baseball.
The most baffling deal with J.D. Davis, Thomas Szapucki, Carson Seymour, and Nick Zwack to the Giants for Ruf. The 36-year-old utility man has slashed .216/.328/.373 this season with 11 home runs and 38 runs batted in. He is much better versus lefties (.252/.364/.523) and will compliment Vogelbach. Except, now he blocks Mark Vientos from any playing time. Ruf is under control through the 2023 season and the Mets will also hold a team option for the 2024 season when Darin is 38 years old.
Vientos lacks a true playing position and is the most movable of the Mets top prospects. At 22 in Triple-A, he’s hit .267/.351/.524 with 19 home runs and 54 runs batted in. Against lefties, he’s hit .337/.400/.750 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs. Vientos is now mostly a 1B/DH, much like Ruf.
So Vientos can hit against the type of pitcher the Mets need to but won’t because of the acquisition of Ruf. If he isn’t ready, why not use him to acquire a better major-league talent and increase your chances of winning the World Series?
The Mets have at least remained steadfast that they’re not going to move their top prospects unless there’s a perfect deal. Still, as you watch the Padres move prospects for Juan Soto, Josh Hader, Josh Bell, and Brandon Drury, how can you not find something better for yourselves?
Then the Mets already added Naquin and got at least one reliever in Givens. Naquin is a better version of Travis Jankowski and Givens is one of Buck Showalter‘s guys who’s had a good year in Chicago. Not much to complain about here other than another possible prospect overpay for Naquin.
The Mets still improved their roster. They could’ve done much more.
Jacob deGrom made his season debut on the deadline and Trevor May is expected back from the injured list Wednesday. As disgusting as it is to say, that’s two more acquisitions at the deadline. Even though having injured players return is a cop-out answer for not doing more.
The Mets want to build a sustainable winner but they also want to win a World Series. They leaned toward sustainability with a roster that’s a splash away from a World Series. Imagine 2015 except they get Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, Tyler Clippard, and no Yoenis Cespedes.
Maybe this time Cespedes is already on the roster. Two months of the regular season remain, then we’ll know for sure if the Mets did enough. Right now, it doesn’t look that way.
