12 worst Mets trades and free agent signings since Steve Cohen took over as majority owner

11) Worst NY Mets trade or free agent signing under Steve Cohen: Joely Rodriguez for Miguel Castro

Joely Rodriguez was a pain to have around in 2022. Part of the blame goes to the roster construction where the team never had a reliable lefty in the bullpen alongside him. Rodriguez came over in a rare trade with the New York Yankees in exchange for righty Miguel Castro. The swap was heavily investigated and referenced by Mets fans throughout the 2022 season. What made it worthy of this list?

Rodriguez was coming off of a 4.66 ERA performance in 2021 split between the Yankees and Texas Rangers. For the Mets, he was only slightly better at 4.47. He had stretches that weren’t so bad so the ERA is definitely a bit deceptive. As a second lefty in the bullpen, he’d be perfectly fine. As the only option for Buck Showalter for much of the season, his weaknesses stood out.

Castro would end up missing a good portion of the 2022 season yet managed to go 5-0 with a 4.03 ERA in his 34 appearances for the Yankees. He had an objectively better year on the mound than Rodriguez. Taking into account his 3.45 ERA and team-leading 69 appearances from the year prior, Mets fans noticed the change from Castro to Rodriguez.

This definitely wasn’t a good trade for the Mets. It also wasn’t a terribly bad one. The verdict here might be the Mets picking wrong with the lefty they swapped Castro for. Someone with minor league options or a better track record would have graded better.