Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 offseason decisions that helped lead to the 2023 trade deadline sell-off

Billy Eppler doesn’t want to call it a fire sale. More semantical than anything else, what he’s doing with the New York Mets is certainly as close as it gets. They’re not selling the pillars that keep the building standing upright, but you can take the mannequin in the window. When you ask what they plan to do with it, the answer is always “school project.”

Much of what led to this trade deadline sell-off was out of Eppler’s hands. The injuries. The lack of performance. Eppler built a much better team than the performances have shown.

He also had his fair share of misses. These three decisions are specific culprits as to why the Mets are selling instead of buying this week.

1) The NY Mets trade deadline fire sale was a guarantee with the bullpen they built

A healthy Edwin Diaz would’ve made a world of a difference because David Robertson becomes available to pitch the seventh or eighth. How many more games do the Mets win if this is the case? Probably only a few more. That could be all there is to make a difference in their trade deadline approach.

The bigger issue goes beyond the Diaz injury because that could’ve happened to him or anyone else at any point in the year. The Mets had a glaring hole in the bullpen for much of the offseason. It’s inexcusable how much they focused on signing optional below-average relievers while overlooking the market of veteran quality arms. This ended up backfiring on the team immensely following the Diaz injury. The season began with Tommy Hunter and Stephen Nogosek on the roster. They were doomed from the beginning.

We don’t need to rattle off the list of names you’ve probably seen a hundred times already the Mets could’ve gone after in free agency (Andrew Chafin, Matt Moore, etc.). The lack of effort and concession to accept more subpar pitchers with minor league options provided the Mets with a bullpen doomed from the start.

2) The NY Mets trade deadline fire sale happened because the offense wasn’t improved

The only player the Mets brought in this offseason who provided the offense with any sort of spark was Tommy Pham. A fourth outfielder shouldn’t be the lift this team needed and yet it’s the only place they managed to improve.

Eppler did sign Omar Narvaez to improve the offense from the catcher spot which has turned into a complete waste of an addition. He got hurt early and as it turns out, Francisco Alvarez was ready for the starting gig.

The most serious problem with the Mets offense comes down to their trust in Daniel Vogelbach being the answer. The left-handed hitting DH fits on the Mets roster like a glove does on a foot. You can force it and make it work but there is a better solution; like a sock.

One big bat might not have been enough, but add in an improved bullpen arm and the Mets feel a whole lot better. Carlos Correa nearly became the big swing of the offseason. By the time we thought he was headed to the Mets, free agency had dried up. Outside of a trade, the opportunity to make an obvious upgrade had passed by.

The front office trusted the returning players. And that’s probably where they made the biggest mistake of all.