Mets Trade Deadline Deal Battle: Marcus Stroman vs. Javier Baez

In 2019, the New York Mets brought us Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays. Two years later, Javier Baez became a member of the Mets after a trade with the Chicago Cubs.

These were the two biggest additions the Mets made at the trade deadline post-2015. The 2016 trade deadline centered on Jay Bruce, an underperforming for the team down the stretch that season. They followed it up with two straight years of selling at the deadline before buying again in 2019.

While they bring different talents to the field, Stroman and Baez have a lot in common.

Which Mets trade deadline deal will turn out better: Marcus Stroman or Javier Baez?

Stroman spent two and a half years with the Mets but only placed a year and a half for them. He missed all of the 2020 season after opting out following an injury he had suffered in the preseason.

Baez’s time with the Mets was far shorter. Acquired ahead of his free agency, he left the Mets after only two months with the team in 2021. Now a member of the Detroit Tigers, fans of his are surely wishing they had gotten to know him better.

These two big personalities came to the Mets with a lot of hype. They gave us some important moments and each has now fled Queens.

With only a little bit of time on their resumes as a member of the orange and blue and a lot of directions the legacies of these trades can go, I’m curious as to which deadline deal will go down as the better one for the Mets. Considering neither helped win them a championship, maybe it’s as much a matter of which one ends up worse.

Was the Mets trade for Javier Baez worth it?

There are far fewer moving parts in this trade than the former. Baez was acquired along with pitcher Trevor Williams for only one prospect, outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Despite a slow start and a brief feud with the fans, Baez’s time in New York was quite remarkable. He hit .299/.371/.515 with 9 home runs and 22 RBI. The offense was alive with him around. If only it could have woken up the rest of the team, including the pitching, this may have gone down as one of the best Mets trade deadline deals of all-time.

The idea of keeping Baez around beyond 2021 was possible but that won’t be the case. The Mets still do have Williams for the coming year, adding a few extra points to the score of this deal.

Ultimately, our perception of this deal depends on how Crow-Armstrong performs. He’s a few years away from getting anywhere close to the big leagues. Like all prospects, there’s plenty of uncertainty.

Thus far, only the Mets have gotten anything out of this deal. Crow-Armstrong only had 6 games of professional baseball experience before going down for the year in 2021 with an injury.

Eventually, maybe he does make the major leagues. And when it happens, there’s a possibility he’s playing behind Stroman, one of the newest members of the Cubs franchise.

Which of these Mets trades will turn out to be the better one?

It’s hard to dislike either of these deals because nothing bad has come from them. Only Kay has reached the majors and he hasn’t been so great.

The one piece I think is most likely to bite the Mets is Woods Richardson. Within the next few years, he could be the ace of the Twins’ staff while the Mets only have memories of Stroman’s time with the club.

Crow-Armstrong, a first-round draft pick, can have the same effect on the Baez deal. Regardless of whether or not he does become a star with the Cubs or any other team, the price to acquire Baez was nothing nuts and worth it.

There is one other factor I think is worth considering in this discussion. Stroman returned to the Mets in 2021 via qualifying offer. In a way, it’s almost as if this is separate from the trade entirely. Depending on how you weigh it, it’s almost as if the Mets got even less time from Stroman.

Between the two, the Baez trade was the better one made by the Mets. They got a power-hitting infielder for two months plus more than a year of a pitcher they can have fill in as their long man or even emergency starter. Unless Crow-Armstrong becomes a true superstar, I can’t imagine this going down as a major loss for New York. They still had a chance to re-sign Baez but decided to go in a different direction.

When looking at the two deals, many might consider their impact on the locker room, too. Stroman’s personality may have rubbed a few the wrong way and the same has been speculated about in regards to Baez.

From a pure baseball standpoint, both deals worked out for the Mets. We’ll just need to hold our breaths and hope either of the double-last name prospects they traded away turn into something incredible.