1 Mets trade that has temporarily resurrected

The arrival of Pete Crow-Armstrong to the major leagues this month is a reminder of a terribly short-sighted New York Mets trade. There's nothing to salvage there. Javier Baez and Trevor Williams are gone with no championship to show for it. Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs hope and wait to see what PCA becomes in their outfield.

Plenty of recent Mets trades have backfired on the club almost to an unbelievable rate. Even if we remove championship implications, it seems more often than not that the Mets lost or are on pace to lose the deal.

One of those trades thought to be a loss was a three-way involving the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres. Lots of players swapped uniforms with the Mets acquiring Joey Lucchesi from the Padres while sending Endy Rodriguez to the Pirates. The fat lady warmed up her voice for this trade two years ago. She hasn't sung yet.

The NY Mets might salvage something from Joey Lucchesi after all

A strong albeit shortened season in the majors for Lucchesi is at least pointing the lefty in the right direction. He was buried on the team's depth chart this season behind the fringe major league stylings of Tylor Megill and David Peterson. Both of them were given plenty of leeway and opportunity to try to figure it out. Not Lucchesi. Most of his year was in the minors.

The results have been promising for Lucchesi. He’s 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA in 7 starts for the Mets.

Lucchesi hasn’t been dominant, averaging just 6.2 strikeouts per nine. He’s the owner of a 1.25 WHIP as well. It hasn’t always been smooth, but his last two appearances were as good as it gets.

Those season numbers are somewhat skewed because of the shorter outings he gave the Mets in May. Lucchesi pitched 7 shutout frames against the San Francisco Giants on the road back in April for his 2023 MLB debut. He allowed only one unearned run in his most recent 7-inning effort versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. This came after tossing 5.2 shutout innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals in August.

Sample size. Sample size. Sample size. Through 35 innings, Lucchesi has delivered overall but isn’t quite a guarantee for any major role on the Mets next season. He took down a bad Cardinals team in August. The Mets took three out of four versus the Diamondbacks this week. Everyone had their way with them.

The previously declared dead trade the Mets poked their nose into and looked like an absolute loss has risen. Will our positive thoughts about Lucchesi end up shattered or has he figured something out and carry it with him into next year?