NY Mets All-Star Game faux pas isn’t as brutal as what the Royals did

If there is one trade deadline blunder the New York Mets would likely want a mulligan on, it was trading Pete Crow-Armstrong to the Chicago Cubs for only two months of Javier Baez. PCA has developed into one of baseball's premier players. He has a 137 wRC+ while showing off some of the best defense in the league with +14 defensive runs saved and +15 outs above average already this season. Baez was quite good down the stretch for the Mets, posting a .876 OPS, .374 wOBA, and 138 wRC+. But Baez would leave in free agency that winter.

While this move has aged very poorly for the Mets, it's almost nothing compared to what the Kansas City Royals have done. Two of this year's American League All-Stars were once on the Royals' roster at the same time in 2022. However, while the Mets at least got a strong showing from Javier Baez, the Royals haven't gotten anything to show for letting these two players go.

The first is Ryan O'Hearn. He was originally an eighth-round draft pick by the Royals in 2014. After making a great first impression in 2018, O'Hearn did very little after that, batting .211/.282/.351 with a 68 wRC+ and -2.4 fWAR in 901 trips to the dish from 2019 through 2022. His fWAR was the lowest in the league throughout this stretch, and ranked in the bottom 15 of all three triple-slash stats, along with wRC+ among batters with at least 850 plate appearances.

O'Hearn's contract was then purchased by the Baltimore Orioles. He immediately broke out, putting up back-to-back seasons with a wRC+ of 117 over the course of 862 plate appearances. This year, O'Hearn is having a career season. He is batting .287/.383/.463 with a 127 wRC+. O'Hearn has already racked up +2.3 fWAR in just 313 plate appearances. 

At least the NY Mets didn't make a blunder as bad as the 2022 Kansas City Royals did.

The second is Brent Rooker. Rooker's time with the Royals was much more of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. Acquired by the Royals from the San Diego Padres in late 2022, Rooker only appeared in 14 games in the Major Leagues, collecting just four hits and three walks throughout a 29 plate appearance sample size. The Royals then designated Rooker for assignment that offseason, and was claimed by the Athletics.

However, since joining the A's, Rooker has been one of baseball's best sluggers. Since breaking out in 2023, Rooker has gone yard 88 times, the ninth most in baseball. His .246 isolated slugging percentage is also the 12th best. This year, he is batting .274/.347/.492 with a .363 wOBA, and 130 wRC+. He already has 19 home runs on the season and has made one massive improvement to his game. Rooker struck out 28.8% of the time last season, but cut that down to just 22% last year. He did this while maintaining a solid 9.6% walk rate.

It's even worse in hindsight, considering the Royals are 46-49, with a pitching staff boasting a combined 3.51 ERA and a 117 ERA+. However, they have scored the second-fewest runs this year at 324 with a team 84 wRC+. They could definitely use a player who is on pace for his third straight season with 30 or more home runs, or one who has been a consistently above-average batter the last three years.

While this isn't an excuse for the Mets trading away Pete Crow-Armstrong, it goes to show there have been far worse blunders out there by other teams in recent history. The Mets aren't a Pete Crow-Armstrong away from being a competitor. They would be in a great position in the NL East, with or without him. However, the Royals, on the other hand, may have been in the midst of an AL Central race with Rooker and O'Hearn on board.