1 Mets trade from 2023 shaping up to be their biggest steal

In New York Mets trade deadline history, there aren’t too many instances where the team sold and came away victorious. Many of the franchise’s midseason swaps that are memorable involved the team buying, not selling. They’ve sold plenty of prospects who would become All-Stars elsewhere. Rarely have they snagged a youngster who became a cornerstone or even a regular in the major leagues.

Probably the best trade involving a sale was the Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler deal. A simple expiring veteran for a first-round pick, Wheeler became a good pitcher for the Mets who unfortunately didn’t turn into an ace until after leaving the Mets in free agency.

Last year’s Mets trade deadline sell-off was an unusual one and included some innovative thinking. The two creative trades had the team selling veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander for top-level prospects while eating a large portion of each of their contracts. Neither can really be considered much of a steal as it did cost the team financially. A far more traditional deal the team made may fall more in the same category as the Beltran for Wheeler deal.

The 2023 Mets trade for Jeremy Rodriguez is on its way toward becoming a steal

Barely 18, Jeremy Rodriguez has announced his presence as one of the best Mets prospects they have. He had only 38 games under his belt in the Dominican Summer League at the time he was traded by the Arizona Diamondbacks last summer for Tommy Pham. Presently in the Florida Complex League, Rodriguez has continued what he started last year post-trade deadline.

An unsustainable .422/.536/.711 slash line in 56 plate appearances last year when he joined the Mets organization, Rodriguez has been more sensibly productive by hitting .282/.355/.400 this year through his first 217 chances. Getting on base has been one of his best abilities even before the swap. This hasn’t gone away even with a larger sample size.

There are two sides to every trade. For the Diamondbacks, they parted ways with a prospect far from MLB-ready in exchange for an offensive spark plug they rented for a couple of months. Pham managed to hit .241/.304/.415 with 6 home runs and 32 RBI in his 217 plate appearances in the regular season for them last year. Even more fantastic in the postseason, he batted over .400 in the NLDS and again in the World Series while scuffling in the other two rounds.

Nonetheless, Pham helped the Diamondbacks get to the World Series where they’d eventually lose. Pham left in free agency and like most trade deadline moves, they get an A for effort and nothing to show for it.

Rodriguez has yet to become a big hype prospect. Maybe he never will. Considered the 7th best prospect in the system according to MLB Pipeline, it’s fair to trust the experts in the assessment.

He is now ranked ahead of Luisangel Acuna on the same list and both players the Mets acquired for David Robertson. The team’s first pick in 2022 (Kevin Parada) and 2023 (Colin Houck) are behind him, too. The arbitrary listing of prospects should always be taken with some level of saltiness. A few years still from reaching the majors, whichever Mets scout sought him out as a viable trade deadline target better have gotten a bonus.