Grading the NY Mets trade for Luis Robert Jr.

It finally happened. Luis Robert Jr. has been traded to the New York Mets. It feels like the obvious endgame couple from a sitcom giving each other a glance in the pilot and not actually doing anything about it until the penultimate episode. The return was so simple, Luisangel Acuna and Truman Pauley, the team’s 12th round draft pick from last year all of us had to do research on.

The trade manages to secure a few things for the Mets, most notably who’ll be playing center field. The Mets get a high upside right-handed hitter with some power, but also injury concerns and a cross of the fingers he’ll even reach a .230 batting average.

How does this trade grade out?

Give the Mets trade for Luis Robert Jr. an A

This is coming from someone who doesn’t particularly think Robert is the greatest thing since Uncrustables (it’s time to retire sliced bread). However, he was always way too good of a match for the Mets. Hitting right-handed helps. Offering speed and the kind of offense that can ninth or in the middle of the order, he’s a defensive guru who’ll steal the runs he doesn’t knock in.

There is fallout to this trade, which we’ll get to later in the day. Much of it is good other than maybe letting us know left field will be a more weakened position. In either case, the Mets got better while not giving up a whole lot.

Acuna was the headliner in this deal and we should be glad. Even if his Venezuelan Winter League dominance had some meaning behind it, he no longer served the Mets much of a purpose. A good defensive infielder up the middle on a roster with two Gold Glove-caliber players there, too…it was time to send him somewhere and in exchange for Robert always made sense.

It was Acuna’s lack of minor league options that increased the need to trade him as well as the logjam in the infield. The Mets lacked faith he could play center field last year, making this an easier decision for them no doubt.

As for the prospect involved, who knows? Only 4.1 innings of professional experience and a 12th round pick won’t have us crying tears of misery. Unless this is the universe’s way of rewarding the White Sox for the pain they suffered by trading away Fernando Tatis Jr. and more for James Shields, we needn’t worry.

You should only be disappointed if you believed Cody Bellinger was a must–he wasn’t. It has been a weird and unpredictable offseason. This trade is finally par for what we expected, maybe even a birdie because of how little the Mets sacrificed to make it happen.