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Struggling NY Mets prospect isn't giving Steve Cohen incentive to pay down salaries in trades

He's on an unbelievably cold streak.
ByTim Boyle|
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Apr 22, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets owner Steve Cohen walks across the field during batting practice before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Apr 22, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets owner Steve Cohen walks across the field during batting practice before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ryan Clifford isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt. He’s falling down everyone’s top 100 prospect lists and for good reason. Strikeouts in 38% of his plate appearances in Triple-A this season, he has started off August going 1 for 26 with 16 strikeouts. It’s not a slump. Since the start of June, Clifford is batting .113/.223/.186 with only 3 home runs. The power-hitting New York Mets prospect has struck out 86 times in those 203 trips to the plate in what has become an atrocious season.

Clifford came to the Mets in unusual circumstances. One of two prospects acquired from the Houston Astros for Justin Verlander, the addition was an exciting one at the time and only possible because Steve Cohen agreed to pay the remainder of Verlander’s 2023 salary plus another $25 million in 2024.

Clifford is the last man standing among the players the Mets acquired in those circumstances. Drew Gilbert went to the San Francisco Giants in the trade for Tyler Rogers. Luisangel Acuna went to the Chicago White Sox for Luis Robert Jr. Gilbert was Clifford’s prospect partner in the Verlander trade with Acuna as the lone representative acquired for Max Scherzer, another high-salaried player the Mets traded with cash to acquire.

Following a trade deadline sell-off where the Mets paid only a minimal amount of players’ salaries, fallen prospects like Clifford give Cohen the “out” to refuse to do so again on a high level.

The bold Mets trade deadline strategy in 2023 has left Steve Cohen with a ridiculous bill, little to show for it

Sure, the Mets were able to escape parts of what was owed to Verlander and Scherzer in 2024. Considering how well things went that season, we can at least be grateful to some extent things played out the way they did. It’s just a shame we’re staring down a barrel of getting no young talent back in return.

Clifford is already on the verge of getting replaced in Syracuse. Billy Amick is heading to Triple-A after a brief yet dominant stretch of hitting home runs in Double-A.

Amick has had some of those same issues as Clifford. His 127 strikeouts in 433 plate appearances doesn’t have anyone suggesting that maybe he grew up watching Tony Gwynn play. His quick 7 home runs in Double-A have also come with 19 strikeouts through his first 54 plate appearances with the Mets organization.

Amick’s career isn’t too different from Clifford. He hit over .300 in 2025. Clifford had a year in the minors with the Astros where he did the same. For young power hitters, there seems to be a failure to adjust and improve that either makes them the next Pete Alonso or an A-Ball Home Run Derby Champion.

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