Past Mets trade for a roster replacement has a lot of irony today with Yankees roster announcement

How ironic. On the day where the New York Mets face off against a former member of their franchise who turned into an ace with the rival Philadelphia Phillies, the player who essentially replaced him on the roster was left off of his team’s run in the playoffs. Zack Wheeler gets the ball against the Mets in their first trip to the NLDS since 2015. Wheeler was hurt at the time and didn’t get to enjoy being there, at least unless he was willing to buy a ticket.

A lot has changed in those 9 years since the last trip to the NLDS for the Mets. Plenty has changed, too, since the 2019 season when Wheeler’s future replacement Marcus Stroman was added at the trade deadline.

At the time, General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen explained how Stroman was viewed as a Wheeler replacement when the latter would reach free agency. It’s ironic today because Stroman won’t be with the New York Yankees in their ALDS battle against the Kansas City Royals.

Former Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman has an uphill battle to join the Yankees in the postseason

Stroman didn’t have a miserable year. Going 10-9 with a 4.31 ERA in 29 starts and a relief appearance, it was how he ended his season that drove him out of the rotation. The 0-3 record and 8.80 ERA in September was a precursor to the Halloween season with how much terror it brought. But Stroman hadn’t been good for a very long time. He had ERAs of 5.13 in June, 5.50 in July, and 4.56 in August. His second-half totals included a 3-5 record and 5.98 ERA which just isn’t good enough for a team with as high of aspirations as the Yankees.

The last time Stroman pitched in the playoffs was back in 2016 when he was still a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. He lost to Cleveland.

Stroman’s teams have failed to make the playoffs ever since. The Blue Jays didn’t go back until 2020, one year after Stroman left. The Mets were absent from the postseason from 2019-2021 when he was in New York. They’ve been there twice in three tries since he left for the Chicago Cubs. Chicago, as you guessed already, didn’t appear in the playoffs in either of his two seasons there.

A character capable of grabbing headlines with his attentiveness on social media, Stroman managed to avoid any major controversies this season on any of those online platforms. He wasn’t the disaster some Mets fans believed he would be in the tightly-buttoned Yankees organization that doesn’t even accept beards.

Who will join the Yankees instead of Stroman? It’ll be pinch runner Duke Ellis (definitely not a jazz musician) who had a short stint in the minors for the Mets this year.

This isn’t quite a circle of baseball life. Something shaped like an octopus tentacle of madness seems to fit better. Stroman replaces Wheeler. Ellis replaces Stroman, at least for one round.

If ghosts of Mets past really want to take over an ironic stance in the MLB playoffs this week, Seth Lugo will toss a complete game shutout against the Yankees. A guy whom the Mets refused to give consistent starts to, going the distance in a playoff game is one way to continue to deaden the disbelievers.