Grading the NY Mets trade of Brooks Raley to the Phillies for 2 prospects

David Stearns decided to make a deal with the devil by sending Brooks Raley to the Philadelphia Phillies. Of the players the New York Mets have traded, he’ll be the toughest to root for now that he’s on our hated NL East foe.

In return, the Mets gain two prospects.

Outfielder John Spikerman, a powerless yet high contact/low strikeout prospect, and pitcher Luke Gabrysh with a high K rate at 11.7 K/9 but ERA over 5.00 in High-A, are the duo that’ll be known as the return for Raley. How does the trade grade?

Grade this Mets-Phillies trade of Brook Raley a C-

Raley gives the Phillies a huge boost in their bullpen. Alongside Luis Arraez, whom they acquired immediately before Raley, Philadelphia’s roster is looking a bit different.

But enough about them actually landing a quality left-handed reliever and the league’s best contact hitter. What did the Mets get in this deal?

Spikerman has 30 walks and 31 strikeouts this year but no home runs. A good ratio, he’s only hitting .252 and he’s even lower in his short minor league career. Meanwhile, Gabrysh feels like another one of those minor league pitching projects the Mets will attempt to get more results from. Unranked by MLB Pipeline, while Spikerman is at 27th, it sure doesn’t seem like the Mets got much at all in return for a guy who should have been one of the hotter trade targets for contenders.

Raley departs the Mets with a 1.96 ERA this year and 2.31 ERA overall as a member of the Mets. While the conversation has been largely about Clay Holmes getting traded and re-signed, who wouldn't want Raley back for another year?

Compared to the A.J. Minter trade which added a ranked prospect for the Mets, Bruin Agbayani, and a guy who fell out of their top 30 but was ranked for the Minnesota Twins, Billy Amick, this feels like a much smaller return than we could have predicted. Spikerman’s complete lack of power is troublesome and limits him to a bench role. Gabrysh, meanwhile, is a pitching wild card we can only hope becomes anything close to the useful bullpen arm Raley has been for multiple years. That theme of the trade deadline has been in place for many of the prospects they've added: "hope."

Clearly, there was no Phillies tax on this trade and the level of interest in Raley wasn’t as expanded as we guessed. It'll be interesting to see where these newcomers rank within the Mets system to give us a better idea of who we can compare them to.

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