3 best NY Mets trade matches at the MLB Winter Meetings

3) Arizona Diamondbacks

The third team on today’s list is the Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-Backs fell just short of making the playoffs this year despite winning the National League pennant the previous season. The Snakes are rumored to have gotten calls on their multiple starting pitchers, which makes them a good potential trade partner for the Mets.

The Mets could target a young, controllable arm like Brandon Pfaadt. Although Pfaadt put up a 4.71 ERA, nearly every ERA estimator put him as a sub-4.00 ERA pitcher. He carried an above-average 24.3% strikeout rate with an outstanding 5.5% walk rate and a respectable 1.19 HR/9 rate. Pfaadt is only 26, but the D-Backs would likely be unwilling to trade Pfaadt short of a haul given his age and control remaining. 2024 was only his second big league season.

Veterans Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are both on expiring contracts. The former finished top five in Cy Young voting in 2022 and 2023 and put up some decent numbers in 2024 but was only limited to 148 innings pitched. Kelly was also great in 2022 and 2023, putting up an ERA below 3.50 and FIP below 4.00 in both seasons. But he struggled this year, primarily with injuries, and only pitched 73 frames.

The Mets could also look to take on a contract like Eduardo Rodriguez or Jordan Montgomery. The veteran lefties struggled mightily this season. Rodriguez pitched just 50 innings, while Montgomery was signed late into Spring Training, which didn’t give him a proper warm-up and led to an ERA over 6.00. However, after handing out the largest contract in MLB history to Juan Soto, the Mets may not want to take on a potentially underwater contract. Either way, it’s still a possibility.