A clever NY Mets trade deadline deal that never panned out

The idea of buying at the trade deadline when you’re mostly selling is rare yet not entirely unique. The New York Mets have done it a few times, one example occurring during one of the franchise’s largest trade deadline sell-offs in 2017.

The trade deadline wasn’t until early August and despite being in clear rebuild mode, the Mets made a trade with the division rival Miami Marlins on July 28 to actually add a win-now type of player. A year removed from a 40-save season and All-Star selection, AJ Ramos came to the Mets.

A 30-year-old reliever with a 2.78 ERA in 327.1 innings in the majors with the Marlins, what was there to dislike? Ramos wasn’t at his sharpest, owning a 3.63 ERA at the time of the deal. A full year of control in 2018, the Mets took advantage and landed a guy they hoped could help stabilize their bullpen for the following year.

Unfortunately, this clever Mets trade failed to pan out for them

Ramos pitched 19 innings for the 2017 Mets and saw his ERA rise to 4.74 during that time. New York City jitters or something more?

Ramos was moved into a setup role for the following season with Jeurys Familia back and healthy. It didn’t change a thing as he put together one of the rougher and more disappointing relief experiences of any Mets pitcher in recent history to begin a season.

In 28 games, Ramos logged only 19.2 innings. The ERA was an atrocious 6.41. He struggled to find the strike zone, walking batters at a 6.9 BB/9 clip. His last appearance for the Mets happened on May 26 with 3 earned runs charged to him in only 0.2 innings of work. It was his second-straight day on the mound. On the previous day, he entered the tenth inning and walked both batters he faced. The second was with the bases loaded. The game ended.

The tail-end of Ramos’ time with the Mets is when most of the damage was done. All of those regular appearances in such a short period of time might’ve been a part of the blame. 10 of his appearances included 0 days of rest. He had a 15.00 ERA in those games. 10 more of his appearances occurred with only 1 day of rest. He had a 1.08 ERA in those games.

Was it an all-time Mets trade failure? The Mets gave up Ricardo Cespedes and Merandy Gonzalez for him. Cespedes never made it above High-A in affiliated ball. He has continued to play in the Independent League and foreign leagues. Gonzalez had 22 innings for the 2018 Marlins. He had a 5.22 ERA. He never made it back to the big leagues again.

A clever move at the trade deadline to actually buy while selling, the Ramos deal just didn’t work and probably for a variety of reasons. Not much of what was added to the 2018 Mets went well. From Mickey Callaway downward, everything that could went wrong.

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