3 trade deadline moves that prove Billy Eppler knows what he's doing

2) Michael Perez has given the Mets much-needed catching depth. 

The Mets had a solid catcher duo for their pitching and defense with James McCann and Tomas Nido going into the season, but there really wasn’t much depth behind them for 2022. Chances were Francisco Alvarez needed to see Triple-A pitching to develop into the franchise catcher the Mets hope for him to be, and Patrick Mazeika (whom the Giants added off waivers yesterday) wasn’t going to bring much, especially at the plate. 

So when James McCann was still down due to an oblique injury, the Mets needed another catcher in case something wrong happened with McCann or Nido, so Billy Eppler brought in Michael Perez from the Pirates on July 23 in exchange for cash considerations. 

And what happened? Tomas Nido was placed on the COVID-19 list, forcing Michael Perez into action. And what has he done? He has two multi-run scoring hits in wins against the Phillies over the weekend, and has caught three runners stealing bases out of five attempts behind the plate. 

Perez had to catch on three straight days because of both Nido’s absence and James McCann not ready to catch back-to-back games following his injury, and he stepped up, much to the delight of Chris Bassitt.