Biggest NY Mets trade of the Steve Cohen era just got even better

No free agent signing was bigger for the New York Mets during the Steve Cohen era than the one for Juan Soto this week. Record-setting for Major League Baseball, it’s going to stand out as the biggest acquisition for quite some time.

Trades have been a different story. The Mets haven’t made too many significant ones. An exception was the 2021 trade for Francisco Lindor.

The Mets acquired the star shortstop one year before reaching free agency and awarded him with a $341 million deal shortly before his first year began. We don’t have to rehash everything that has happened since. It has long been a victory for the Mets. Now it’s looking even greater because of what the Cleveland Guardians just did.

The Guardians traded their best remaining piece from the Francisco Lindor trade

The MLB Winter Meetings had some extra heat on Tuesday night when the Guardians sent Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. Two other players and the fake grandson of Mets front office mainstay Jay Horwitz, Spencer Horwitz, were included in the deal as well.

Since leaving the Mets, Gimenez has put together one fabulous offensive campaign and won three straight Gold Gloves. A below-average hitter over the last two seasons, he heads to the Blue Jays with a contract that is destined to become one of the worst in baseball even when we factor in inflation.

Gimenez is owed another $96.9 million guaranteed. His salary peaks at $23.57+ million in 2027-2029. As brilliant of a defender as he is, it hardly pays for itself with the lack of offensive production. A .712 OPS in 2023 following an All-Star selection in 2022 took a turn for the worst this past year when it dropped down to .638. Gimenez does some things incredibly well. Two straight years of stealing 30 bases is attractive. On the right team, he’s a useful player to have around. At the salary he’ll receive in the near future, it’s easy to understand why the typically frugal Guardians wanted to bail.

While the Guardians did add the promising young bat of Horwitz to their roster in this deal, they are left directly with only two minor leaguers from the initial Lindor trade. Comically, they traded Amed Rosario away last summer for a few starts of Noah Syndergaard.

Pitcher Josh Wolf who was a part of the trade is now with the San Francisco Giants organization. At 23 and now 24 as of September, he pitched to a 4.41 ERA last season at multiple levels. He hasn’t made it above High-A. He was released by the Guardians early in the 2024 season. Outfielder Isaiah Greene hasn’t done much of anything either. A career .225/.366/.332 hitter in 981 plate appearances in the minor leagues, all for the Cleveland organization, there isn’t much of a thought that he’ll change anything about the narrative of this deal.