Mets trade target we're glad they missed on predictably beaten up in Orioles debut

When the New York Mets rumors about a possible trade for Miami Marlins hurler Trevor Rogers came out hours before the deadline, a lot of us were a bit perplexed. Having seen him plenty as a member of the Marlins, his 2-3 record and 3.35 ERA against the Mets was about as good as it gets. The Baltimore Orioles must’ve bought into the 7 shutout innings he tossed in his one start against them in his career.

At the time of the trade, Rogers was 2-9 with a 4.53 ERA for the Fish through 21 starts. Baltimore paid Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to get him. You know a trade was a hefty haul when prospects from a team you barely pay attention to are involved.

The Orioles wasted no time getting Rogers on the mound for them. The performance confirmed what we already knew. He was not the right match for what the Mets needed.

Let’s cross our fingers Paul Blackburn is better in his Mets debut than Trevor Rogers was on Thursday

Handed a 1-0 lead against the Cleveland Guardians, Rogers coughed it up quickly. A single, a double, a sacrifice fly, and another single gave the Guardians the lead. A three-run home run off the bat of David Fry in the bottom of the third tallied 3 more runs for the Guardians.

Rogers had a chance to rectify the outing but after flirting with some danger in the fourth and then walking Josh Naylor with one out in the fifth, he was pulled before getting a chance to face Fry again.

Rogers left with 4.1 innings of work, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. A very back-of-the-rotation type of start if there ever was one, we’re going to have to hope Paul Blackburn doesn’t do something similar against the Los Angeles Angels in his Mets debut on Friday.

The difference between Rogers and Blackburn isn’t as large as the trade packages to acquire each might make it look. For Blackburn, the Mets gave up a single prospect, Kade Morris. As promising as he may be, he ranks well below far too many other pitching prospects and has an ETA further back. It’s the cost of doing business.

You’d have a lot of trouble finding a Mets fan who would have willingly given the Marlins a similar pair of young players in exchange for Rogers as the Orioles did. Even at a lesser cost, he didn’t seem to be the right choice. A short and ineffective debut with the Orioles is a sigh of relief for us all.