1 NY Mets trade far worse than anything David Stearns did this past offseason

Former New York Mets pitcher Paul Blackburn is currently making the most of his full-time transition to the bullpen, pitching to a 3.00 ERA (2.83 FIP) as one of the New York Yankees' middle relievers. He hardly resembles anything close to the 2022 All-Star he once was, but a serviceable pitcher is a valuable commodity in today's game.

Of course, that 2022 All-Star is who the Mets were hoping to get when they traded Kade Morris to the Athletics at the 2024 trade deadline. Blackburn was the perfect back-end innings-eater that the team needed... until he wasn't.

The veteran right-hander collapsed with his new team, making five poor starts in 2024 before a spinal fluid leak in his back prematurely ended his campaign. Then, in 2025, he was even worse, accruing a 6.85 ERA while dealing with more health trouble. Eventually, he was cut loose in August, making his way across town to the Bronx.

All of this would be hard to accept on its own, but the story only gets worse. Morris has since blossomed into a top pitching prospect in the A's system and appears on the cusp of making his MLB debut. In a truly cruel twist of irony, he's beginning to resemble the prototype the Mets once thought they were getting in Blackburn.

Paul Blackburn-Kade Morris trade remains David Stearns' biggest Mets misstep

David Stearns made a lot of questionable moves over this past offseason, flipping over practically half the roster in one go. And, so far, a lot of those moves haven't aged gracefully, as Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, and Luke Weaver have all provided the Mets with negative value (according to fWAR) thus far in 2026.

Yet, somehow, the Morris trade is simply worse. The 23-year-old has ascended to the No. 3 spot in the Athletics' top prospect rankings according to FanGraphs, with writer Eric Longenhagen suggesting that "Morris looks more like the sort who plays a valuable, innings-eating no. 4/5 starter role during the regular season and then shifts into relief come playoff time."

That might as well have been the exact description applied to Blackburn at the time of the original trade. Instead, while he's off galavanting with the Yankees, Morris is coming off a season in which he covered 150 minor-league innings and appears ready to join the MLB ranks at any point.

Only time will tell if Morris succeeds at the highest level, but years of cheap team control for a top pitching prospect is a pretty good return for a pitcher who mustered less than 50 innings with his new team.

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