NY Mets Monday Morning GM: One thing every major offseason trade has in common

Freddy Peralta from the Milwaukee Brewers. Luis Robert Jr. from the Chicago White Sox. Jeff McNeil to the Athletics. Hey, we can even include the Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien swap. Four major New York Mets trades from the offseason dissected to death over the last few months, there’s one thing they all have in common.

If given the chance to undo these trades, would the Mets?

They aren’t allowed to use Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams for someone else. Simplifying the question as best as we can, all four deals are ones the Mets don’t have enough of a reason to hit the reset button on with maybe only the Nimmo for Semien one being up for a small debate.

Even without these Mets trades rewarding them, all appear to be worthwhile deals

Peralta hasn’t lived up to expectations, but neither have Sproat and Williams. Sproat or a similar pitcher was never in the team’s plans for this year. He would have spent this year floating between the majors and minors.

Robert, in some ways, has lived up to expectations. He has been hurt and there’s no sign of him returning. He dazzled us early on and was playing his usual brand of baseball. Robert started the season strong, weakened, and has been absent for around two-thirds of the year.

Then there’s the non-debate of trading McNeil. It had to happen. Regardless of how he performed this year, he was the one player that needed to be sent packing. Three years of frustration in a row, selling him for a minor league flier was appropriate in every way.

Our only debate comes down to the Nimmo or Semien one. Considering the purpose was financial, you couldn’t convince David Stearns to undo it. The goal of shedding future salary while adding an increase for three years was the larger mission of this controversial trade that’s easy to question with every bad day at the ballpark by Semien.

Amazingly enough, the other teams would be more inclined to redo the trades. The White Sox could use Robert (when healthy) and the A’s probably could have spent the portion of McNeil’s salary they’re paying on someone else or simply targetted another second baseman. The biggest satisfaction for the Brewers is they can use Sproat or Williams in a future deal. The Rangers will worry about Nimmo’s contract in a few years when Semien has probably hung up his cleats and Nimmo is eating into their payroll.

The Mets have been criticized plenty for their offseason moves and rightfully so. Yet none of the trades they’ve made have been a masterclass of futility quite yet. That may always change, but in the meantime, their four biggest offseason trades have been closer to draws than losses.

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