2 Mets trade deadline home runs, 2 swings and misses

The Mets swung and missed with settling on Paul Blackburn

If there was a place to go big and bold it would’ve been with the starting pitching. Equally as pricey, the loss of Kodai Senga made acquiring a big arm for the rotation a must. Unfortunately, the best they did was Paul Blackburn. At least they didn’t overpay for Trevor Rogers, right?

There must’ve been something the Mets could have offered someone for a better starting pitcher. Jack Flaherty didn’t cost nearly as much although the medical report on him doesn’t sound so clean based on how the New York Yankees behaved. He went to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a pair of prospects. The Mets couldn’t have packaged a pair of pitching prospects for him?

https://nypost.com/2024/07/31/sports/yankees-reneged-on-jack-flaherty-trade-over-medicals/

This is the one spot where the Mets got a little too chained to their prospects. Rumors of Flaherty being a possibility never happened. The Mets seemed out on him before the trade deadline fists were even thrown.

The Mets will now march on with a starting rotation that lacks major punch at the front end. Their only hope will be to pick someone up off of the waiver wire in August or September—hopefully in August because by September he’d be ineligible for the playoffs.

Blackburn can always surprise us. However, his ceiling doesn’t seem high enough for what the Mets needed: more.

Starts like the one Sean Manaea had on the night of the trade deadline are a rarity for him.

The Mets hit a home run by not overpaying in a buyer’s market

Not a single one of the trades the Mets made felt like they overpaid. Each was a one prospect for one player deal. None of the prospects were highly ranked. Unless you’ve been locked in on Mets minor leaguers this season and last, you probably had to do a little more research on the guys they did give up.

David Stearns’ behavior at the trade deadline was reminiscent of William Wallace in Braveheart yelling “Hold!” As the camera cuts to the charging English soldiers on horseback then back to Wallace again, the tension builds yet he continues to tell his men to “Hold!”

The Mets resisted temptation. Mets prospect lovers rejoiced. Other fans might have felt like they bit into one of those sour Warhead candies from the 1990s. Wasn’t it the blue one that could bring tears?

Stearns had a mission when coming to the Mets and it was to act responsibly. He achieved this. The Mets improved and the only cost they gave were prospects who need a bit more work to become any danger of turning into star players.

How would we feel if the Mets gave up as much as the San Diego Padres did for Jason Adam and Tanner Scott? The Mets weren’t two big relief pitchers away from being World Series favorites. Stearns took a more practical approach and are capable of having just as good of a bullpen as their fellow NL Wild Card contender.

The Mets swung and missed by not flexing their financial might

Other teams are onto the Mets. Discussion leading into the trade deadline was how the Mets would use Steve Cohen’s financial wealth to their advantage. They failed here. Outside of the early July trade for Phil Maton, there was nothing money-driven about the moves they made. Did Cohen get cold feet? Or maybe teams are no longer so tempted to make such moves with a team that has a weapon like this.

It’s different with a buyer than a seller. The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers set themselves up to try and go for a championship last year with the two moves they made with the Mets. It would be different for the Detroit Tigers to let the Mets pay Javier Baez if it rewarded them Tarik Skubal. Other, less ridiculous scenarios, never came to fruition either. We all wondered about the possibility of the Mets getting Blake Snell on the cheap. As it turns out, the San Francisco Giants are trying to compete while also selling some parts away.

The MLB trade deadline ain’t what it used to be.

The offseason is when the Mets having the richest owner in the sport matters most. Other clubs are into their game. A creative thinker like Stearns paired with Cohen is tough to match. When the Mets are making a move like selling players and paying their contracts, teams will bite. When they’re looking to win baseball games and provide salary relief, there’s still a price to pay.

We shouldn’t begrudge the Mets for swinging and missing here. Use this as a wakeup call. 

Thank goodness there’s always the waiver wire in August when plenty of big contracts will make their way there. Perhaps sliding down the standings and moving up the waiver wire wouldn’t be such a bad thing in the last week of August.