The Mets trade deadline deal getting fans unexpectedly excited already

The 2023 MLB trade deadline tore apart the New York Mets much like a bodybuilder will tear apart his muscles in the gym. To get bigger, you have to do some lifting. The Mets weren’t afraid to pop in the squat rack and work on their foundation. They did everything from sell off obvious pieces to removing a few bigger ones we all thought would stick around.

Among the trades the Mets made, one already looks like a victory.

Tommy Pham was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for 17-year-old prospect Jeremy Rodriguez. Nobody is ready to retire Rodriguez’s numbers just yet. After just a handful of games in the Dominican Summer League and Pham doing little to help Arizona avoid their season from spiraling out of control, this is one of those Mets trades we can look at early on and at least feel like we didn’t lose.

The NY Mets only got one prospect for Tommy Pham and already he has caught

Pham got off to a slow start for the Diamondbacks but has now started to perform at the level he had while in New York for a good chunk of the year. While we did see him decline slightly in his final weeks with the Mets, a lingering injury could be to blame.

So far in 46 plate appearances the Diamondbacks have added a .244/.304/.390 hitter. Pham has driven in 8 runs for them in 11 games and already swiped 3 bases. Unfortunately, it might be nothing as the Diamondbacks are behind the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card race. Hovering only a game over .500, they bought the rental, Pham, without doing a whole lot more to improve the ball club. Arizona lost the first 7 games Pham played in before pulling off victories in the last four.

Mets fans won’t be pointing and laughing if Pham and the Diamondbacks miss the playoffs. Instead, attention turns to Rodriguez and whether or not the Mets truly found a hidden gem.

Rodriguez is wielding a .400/.514/.633 slash line in his first 37 plate appearances for the Mets organization. He has 9 RBI in as many games. Lurk around social media long enough, you may have seen his name pop up already and some excitement to follow. Less than two months past his 17th birthday, Rodriguez is becoming a prospect to keep tabs on. 

Again, the sample size is so small it would insist it just came out of the pool. Don’t curb our enthusiasm.

For a change, it might be nice for the Mets to add a prospect no one saw coming. After playing the Pittsburgh Pirates with Endy Rodriguez on their roster, being on the other side of a deal like this would be pleasurable. We lost E-Rod. Maybe J-Rod can catapult in the next few years.