Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 ways Billy Eppler can redeem himself at the trade deadline

Can New York Mets General Manager Billy Eppler redeem himself at this year’s trade deadline for last year’s follies? He’ll get his chance. Steve Cohen isn’t going to fire him in the next couple of weeks.

It was at the 2022 trade deadline when Eppler seemed to have most of his misfires. The Mets didn’t go hard enough at tackling their needs. The players they did add underachieved universally.

Eppler gets his second crack at wheeling and dealing for the Mets at the trade deadline in only a couple of weeks. He can redeem himself by accomplishing these three goals.

1) NY Mets GM Billy Eppler can redeem himself by trading Daniel Vogelbach for someone else’s Colin Holderman

Let’s call this the “Back to the Future” trade only because there is no better reference in media about time travel than the 1980s classic film about going to the past and going to the prom with your mom.

The Daniel Vogelbach trade from last summer was easily the best made by Eppler. At least Vogey was good for the Mets in 2022, right?

In a redemption arc, Eppler can swap Vogelbach for another team’s Colin Holderman. Maybe he’s named something else like Martin McFly. Some sort of a fringe major league reliever who has some promise and is expendable.

Chances are the Mets will have to get much less for Vogelbach. A 27-year-old in Double-A with some potential might be the best they can hope for. Anything would feel like a victory at this point. 

The Vogelbach era in New York has been something else. He went from fan favorite to a piece of scrap metal dangling from the bottom of the car. 

2) NY Mets GM Billy Eppler can redeem himself by pulling off a “Pete Crow-Armstrong for Javier Baez” style trade

This is where the real gold is. The infamous Mets trade that took place when Eppler was just a twinkle in Cohen’s eye has aged terribly for the Amazins. Executed in the summer of 2021, the team swapped Pete Crow-Armstrong for two months of Javier Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams. It was a strange trade we don’t normally see at the deadline. It had a chance to work out fine until the Mets collapsed down the stretch in 2021 and are now left with nothing at all to show for it.

Eppler wasn’t responsible for this trade, however, he can help his case by making one of his own and being on the winning side of it.

The trouble here is finding a Mets player worthy of being the Baez in the deal. None of our pending free agents are quite at the level he was for the Chicago Cubs prior to the move. It might take the Mets three players to get this done.

A package of David Robertson, Tommy Pham, and one more player might be intriguing enough for the right team to sell off one very good prospect instead of several so-so ones. If a ball club can address multiple needs with one move, it’s something to consider.

The dream type of trade to make would be to send Robertson, Pham, and any of the other Mets trade candidates to the Texas Rangers for someone like Jack Leiter and even eat a good chunk of the salary. The combination of Robertson and Pham could work with a variety of teams. I’d ask Eppler to start there and see what else a club wants. The Mets should willingly get a little more bruised now to help their future.