Big offseason NY Mets trade deserves a better grade if their updated plan works

Some fans won’t be convinced the New York Mets were right to trade two top 100 prospects to the Milwaukee Brewers for a rental in Freddy Peralta. There weren’t a whole lot of significant starting pitchers dealt this offseason so we don’t have a basis of what everyone was asking for. The Mets helped set a market no one else is ready to touch.

Peralta was a needed addition for the Mets. At the high cost, they were able to pick up a second player. Tobias Myers is no pushover. A journeyman the Brewers were able to turn into something, the Mets’ plan of stretching him out as a starter makes this a far more worthwhile maneuver rather than sticking him in the bullpen to be a longman.

The initial grade for this trade was a B+. It needs to change if the Mets actually get a large quantity of starts out of Myers this year, next, and maybe for a few more years to come.

We’re going to view the Mets-Brewers trade a lot differently if Tobias Myers is used primarily as a starter at any point

Myers won’t be your run-of-the-mill relief pitcher. Already a guy who has performed duties of getting more than 3 outs, he has the endurance to be a big league starter.

The results have been good, albeit not as dominant as his relief role. He’s 8-7 with a 3.48 ERA in 31 career starts. Compared to the 1.62 ERA in relief but in only 33.1 innings, there can be some confusion as to where he fits in the best.

Five times as many innings as a starter in comparison to a reliever, working as an interchangeable piece from the bullpen to the rotation adds value to Myers for the Mets in 2026. He appears to be seventh in line for starts behind the six projected starters. He’ll even be able to overtake youngsters like Jonah Tong and Christian Scott early on in the season with those two likely needing some seasoning in Triple-A. Scott, more so, because he is coming off of Tommy John surgery and will need the room to accelerate.

When the trade first happened, some immediate flashbacks to the 2021 Javier Baez and Trevor Williams package for Pete Crow-Armstrong hit fans. The similarities are there. This one feels a lot different. And with a full year of control for Peralta and more than two with Myers (the Mets had one full year with Williams after), we can start to understand why the cost was so high.

Peralta winning a Cy Young with the Mets surely improves this trade grade, but in the meantime, Myers becoming a true starting pitcher option will suffice. Myers going from “useful” to “necessary” turns this into a new kind of deal.

While the Mets are prepared to use him as a starter, the only commitment they’ve made is for Myers to make the team out of camp. They seem to really like the guy already.