NY Mets trade for Tyler Rogers worked out better than the alternative rumor

The New York Mets were shopping for relievers last July, ultimately ending up with former San Francisco Giants setup man Tyler Rogers. At the time, the move may have seemed questionable. The bridge to Edwin Diaz was faltering, and fans were clamoring for a more high-profile addition.

That could have come in the form of Rogers' ex-teammate Camilo Doval. Doval, serving as the Giants' closer, who the Mets were rumored to be enamored with. Doval had a lot of things going for him. He was six years younger than Rogers at the time, under team control through 2027, and his closer experience would have provided a Diaz insurance policy come the offseason. On top of that, his high-octane cutter was a lot more tantalizing than the 83 miles per hour submarine sinker that Rogers was lobbing up there.

However, it was the crosstown Yankees who wound up with Doval after the Mets surprisingly opted for Rogers instead. It turned out to be the right call.

The Mets made the right call with Tyler Rogers after watching Camilo Doval flounder with the Yankees

It seemed at the time that David Stearns paid a high price for Rogers, sending Jose Butto alongside Blade Tidwell and Drew Gilbert, the club's No. 10 and No. 12 prospects, at the time. Meanwhile, the Yankees sent four prospects back to San Francisco, though the two most highly regarded were RHP Trystan Vierling (No. 19) and C/3B Jesus Rodriguez, with unranked 1B/3B Parks Harber and LHP Carlos De La Rosa also included in the deal.

Rogers ended up being just a half-season rental, but he pitched beautifully for the Mets, making 28 appearances and tossing 27.1 innings with a 2.30 ERA and a 58.5% ground ball rate. Doval, on the other hand, really struggled with the Yankees, logging 18.2 innings with a 4.82 ERA, often losing the strike zone and posting a 5.30 BB/9 in the Bronx.

Doval was coming off a poor 2024 campaign that saw him record a 4.88 ERA while walking 5.95 batters per nine innings. The Yankees are stuck with him for 2026, and after losing both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, they'll be counting on him to be their 8th inning guy. Not ideal.

As for the prospects given up, despite the better pedigrees, Tidwell struggled in 2024, pitching to a 4.86 ERA between Binghamton and Syracuse. He was slightly better in 2025, but still had a 4.10 ERA in Triple-A at the time of the trade, and would go on to post a 9.00 mark in the bigs with the Giants during a 15-inning cup of coffee.

Gilbert, meanwhile, had been trending down for some time. A .706 OPS in 2024 while playing in Syracuse was concerning, and when the Giants called him up post-trade, he slashed a miserable .190/.248/.350 over 109 plate appearances.

It seemed that Stearns sold high on both of these chips, moving them before the bottom fell out and their value turned to dust.

The Yankees' quartet fared better. Rodriguez spent almost the entire year in Triple-A and slashed .307/.393/.403 between both stops. Harber, despite his no-name prospect status, hit .323/.420/.550 between the two organizations, and would go on to post a 1.196 OPS in the Arizona Fall League, which was the fourth-best mark in the showcase. Vierling did struggle, recording a 4.63 ERA overall, with most of his action coming in Double-A. De La Rosa got just 32.1 innings of work in the Dominican Summer League and turned 18 at the end of November.

So while it seemed like the Yankees got the higher-end option for a collection of odds and ends, they actually gave up several chips who are performing well while the Mets sold high on some assets that have come crashing back down to earth. It hurts to see Rogers bolt in free agency, but that doesn't change the fact that this played out better than if the club had gone after what was rumored to be its first choice in Doval.