Re-grading the 4 major NY Mets trades of the offseason

The first two years under David Stearns didn’t include a whole lot of offseason trades. Year one’s biggest deal added Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser for prospect Coleman Crow. In year two, Jose Siri for Eric Orze was the biggest swap the New York Mets made.

In a year of massive turnover, the Mets weren’t able to completely rebuild themselves by spending money in free agency. They had to think creatively.

The Mets ended up making four major trades this offseason. With the assumption they’re complete and teams across MLB are unlikely to make any more quite as impactful moves, how do these grade out?

Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox: A-

How can you not like this one? Luis Robert Jr. might not be your favorite player the Mets added. If he was, you forgot a couple of names.

In exchange for the unnecessary Luisangel Acuna and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley, the Mets brought in a $20 million boom or bust center fielder. Robert’s impressive stats from 2023 are too fresh to negate what he can potentially add to the ball club this year and maybe in 2027 if things go extremely well.

It doesn’t feel as if the Mets gave up a whole lot to acquire Robert. It came down to the Chicago White Sox wanting all remnants of his salary removed from their payroll. The Mets bit the dollar bullet on this one. The player cost was mostly insignificant.

In a free agent class of center fielders where Harrison Bader was probably the best, the Mets were right to make this trade. An A- grade comes from the fact there is some risk. It’s probably the highest this trade can ever become until Acuna ends up DFA’d by the White Sox mid-year and we forget all about Pauley who never makes it to the majors.

At worst, this trade feels like it could grade out as a B. Acuna can be an incredibly useful player. Usefulness can come in a lot of different forms. It was time for the Mets to move on.