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.