3 reasons the Mets are in a better spot than the Yankees

It has been a bad baseball season for both teams in New York in 2023. One organization has pivoted and dealt with their failure better than the other. The New York Mets acted fast and pivoted in a new direction while the New York Yankees stood pat. Neither team can look at this season as a success but at least one team did something worthwhile in trying to create a brighter future.

1. The NY Mets added top prospects at the trade deadline, the Yankees did nothing

The Mets made a somewhat controversial choice in trading away veterans before this year's trade deadline. The team was a massive disappointment the entire year, but the talent made you think they could still make a run at a wild-card spot.

Steve Cohen and Billy Eppler weren't fooled and decided to trade old pitchers like Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and David Robertson. For these older pitches who have little future with the team, the Mets acquired the two top prospects in their system, and two more in the top eight of their organization.

The team was proactive in their trades, they didn’t throw more money after bad, or hope things would turn around. As Steve Cohen said, “Hope is not a strategy.”

They didn’t stand pat like the Yankees, who are even further out of a playoff spot than the Mets are. The Yankees could've sold off veterans like Harrison Bader and Wandy Peralta and added to their farm system. Instead, they actually traded a prospect for middle reliever Kenyan Middleton.

This inaction will cost the Yankees in the long-term. They thought too much about what the public would think instead of doing what was best for the team. The Mets picked a direction and went all-in. The Yankees did almost nothing.

After the various trades the Mets farm system is much improved. FanGraphs and MLB.com rank the Mets system 11th best in MLB. The Yankees come in at 25th on FanGraphs and 21st on MLB.com.

The Yankees fooled themselves into thinking they still had a shot to make the playoffs. The Mets made a hard calculated decision that will benefit them in 2024 and beyond.