Royals trade for bullpen help shows why the Mets need all the internal help they can get

The Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals struck a deal on Saturday night. Reliever Hunter Harvey was sent to Kansas City. New York Mets fans got to see him a lot lately. He heads to the Royals with a 4.20 ERA on the year but an extra year of control after 2024 and two more productive seasons prior to the ongoing one.

In either case, the Royals got better and the Mets got a preview of what it’ll cost to add relief pitchers on Harvey’s level. Well, it was quite a lot. Third base prospect Cayden Wallace goes to the Nationals. Ranked second in a farm system with only one top 100 prospect, the Royals appear to have surrendered one of their best trade chips for a middle reliever not having a particularly great year.

The Phil Maton trade looks even better for the Mets. However, the bigger takeaway is how much more the Mets are going to need guys like Jose Butto and Dedniel Nunez to remain a constant source of high-leverage outs from the bullpen.

Jose Butto and Dedniel Nunez showed guts again in Saturday’s win

Butto got the win. Nunez got the save. Pitching more than half of the game with a combined 4.2 innings in relief of starter Christian Scott, the pair allowed 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 8 Colorado Rockies hitters.

Seeing these two excel at such a high level completely changes the outlook of this bullpen. Butto has now gone 3-0 in 4 relief appearances with 7.2 shutout innings on his back. Nunez, whose 30.2 innings have all come in relief, is 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA.

As two of the optional arms in the bullpen, their roster status is saved through performance. Although some tough decisions could come along if the Mets were to go out and make a trade for more guys out of minor league options, the way this pair have performed should have them out of consideration for a demotion. If in need of a fresh arm, the more logical decision might be to demote Scott or David Peterson for a fresh bullpen arm. Even Reed Garrett has been prone to put together a bad performance a little too often.

The Mets will also have to debate if veterans like Adam Ottavino or Jake Diekman are good enough to carry past the trade deadline. Even a guy like Adrian Houser whose season has turned around since going to the bullpen could become viewed as expendable. He’s nice to have but in a couple of recent instances when the game was on the line he wasn’t too excellent.

It’s amazing how many Mets players didn’t begin the year on the roster and have suddenly become key to the team’s success. Butto, in Triple-A as a starter, and Nunez not even on the 40-man roster to begin the season have grabbed their opportunity by the horns.

The Mets still do need some bullpen help from the outside. Thanks to these two surprise risers, they won’t have to gut the farm system to make it happen.