Re-grading all 7 NY Mets trade deadline moves from last year

The 2024 New York Mets trade deadline included 7 deals, if you want to include everything they did in the month of July involving a player on the major league roster. They made a minor deal that sent Tyler Jay to the Milwaukee Brewers for TJ Shook which felt more of a coincidence than an actual deadline move. Jay ended up pitching only 3 innings for the Brewers. He didn’t allow a run.

That inconsequential trade was easy to overlook last year on July 31 when the dust settled from the previous day’s flurry of moves. The Mets had an active July and at the end of the day, we had 7 grades of the trade deadline moves they made.

Almost a year later, how is each of them looking? Let’s re-grade those moves.

Phil Maton - First Grade A+, New Grade A

Phil Maton acquired for cash is tough to complain about. It was essentially a salary dump by the Tampa Bay Rays. Maton was pitching to a 4.58 ERA at the time of the deal. His regular season with the Mets had him lowering it to 2.51. If not for some struggles at the very end of the year, it would have been even more superb.

The original A+ was deserved because the Mets got a quality arm without having to give up any actual player. It was a good combination of what works best with David Stearns and Steve Cohen. Stearns had the smarts to choose Maton. Cohen had the smarts to take on the financial burden.

Maton did end up struggling in the postseason, knocking the re-grade down a little bit. There is no prospect in the Rays system to haunt the Mets. For that, even if Maton wasn’t exceptional in the playoffs, we can still be satisfied.