Uh oh, 2 of the NY Mets prospects traded to the Orioles are looking great this spring

When you make a trade, you can tempt teams with one of two things. Make the return one player who’ll carry the weight of winning the trade or choose several lesser players to split the responsibility. At last year’s trade deadline, the New York Mets had very little reason to give up anything significant for Gregory Soto and later Cedric Mullins. They chose a package of two prospects for Soto and three for Mullins.

It’s only spring training and yet the idea of seeing any ex-prospect thrive elsewhere is gut-wrenching. This amplifies when the players you acquired for them weren’t memorable (Soto) or felt like they lost you more games than they won (Mullins).

Both players now gone from the Mets, the pair of deals can only get worse. Based on spring results for a player swapped in each trade, it’s looking like the trouble could come in sooner than later.

Former Mets prospect Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez are taking advantage of their spring training opportunity

Both have thrown 4 shutout innings with 2 hits each. Foster has struck out a pair and walked 1. Nunez has 4 strikeouts and no walks.

Foster was a 14th round pick by the Mets from back in 2022. His 1.01 ERA in Double-A last year came as a big surprise. A full-time transition to the bullpen helped him average 11.5 K/9 with less than 2 walks per 9. While he did struggle in limited Triple-A appearances, Foster regained his composure after getting traded. He remained in Triple-A and finished with a 3.38 ERA and nearly 13 K/9.

Foster was shipped out for Soto. He turns 27 in March so it’s hard to really criticize the Mets too much when looking at how old he already is. Less of a late bloomer and more of a guy who just began his career at a later age, he’s right there alongside Nunez as someone presently on the 40-man roster for Baltimore.

Nunez was a more well-known Mets prospect. A far more fascinating career, which began as a positon player with the San Diego Padres out of high school, he went back to college and returned to the pros as a pitcher beginning in 2024. He has been exceptional with a 2.16 ERA in the minors. A 12.8 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 rate is balanced around his strong ability to prevent runs.

One of the three players the Mets gave the Orioles for two months of Mullins, this 24-year-old seems like the real deal. New York’s excessive amount of talented pitchers can provide them with some excuse as to why trading him was okay. Knowing what we do now about Mullins’ time in Queens, you won’t find a brain under an orange and blue cap that doesn’t wish there was a rewind button.