Tyler Stuart
The New York Mets catapulted themselves into postseason contention after a disastrous May. As the team clawed its way back Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo implored the front office to be buyers at the trade deadline.
Truth be told, this was easier said than done.
Kodai Senga was hurt most of the season, and worse yet, he suffered a season ending injury in his only start of the season. There went a much needed top of the rotation starter.
The bullpen has long been a problem all season. Just when they think they find something, it falls apart.
Reed Garrett was a revelation until he wasn’t, and now, he’s hurt. Adrian Houser was a revelation until he wasn’t, and now, he’s gone.
We’ve seen Dedniel Núñez and Sean Reid-Foley fulfill their promise. Both are on the IL. Everytime the Mets found something, it fell apart.
They could never build a bridge to Edwin Díaz, a closer who still isn’t the Díaz of 2022.
The prices at the trade deadline were astronomical. Case-in-point, the Mets overpaid to acquire Jesse Winker from the Washington Nationals. At least based on what we saw, it wasn’t quite the overpay it was because the market was that absurd.
Stearns effectively gave up nothing for Phil Maton, who had been great for the Mets this far. He gave up a lower tiered older prospect who struggled in Triple-A for Ryne Stanek. Stanek has struggled this year, but he has a good track record.
He obtained Paul Blackburn from the Oakland Athletics for a promising pitcher. Blackburn was a 2022 All-Star, and he’s under team control for another year.
The Blackburn acquisition gets a struggling Tylor Megill out of the rotation and could make him a bullpen option. It also keeps Jose Buttó, the only good remaining reliever in the pen, in the bullpen.
The Mets obtained Tyler Zuber from the Rays for a boom-or-bust minor league reliever. Zuber has options remaining and is not yet arbitration eligible.
Finally, the Mets got THE big piece by obtaining Huascar Brazobán. He’s having a terrific year for the Miami Marlins and will be under team control for four more seasons. All that for a utility player prospect.
Make no mistake losing Tyler Stuart and Kade Morris hurts. However, it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as watching Carlos Mendoza left with no good options in the bullpen leaving even the largest of Mets leads unsafe.
Suddenly, you can argue the Mets bullpen is one of the team’s strengths. It went from drowning to a sufficient bridge to Díaz.
Looking at the team, the lineup is better with Winker. The rotation is better with Blackburn. The bullpen was completely overhauled like it needed to be.
The Mets never got the ace. They didn’t get a top set-up man. You could argue they needed to do more, but you’ll notice Blake Snell and Tarik Skubal weren’t traded.
This team is significantly better, and they did it by minimizing the hit to the farm system. They turned their biggest weakness into a strength. They solidified themselves as a legit postseason caliber club.
David Stearns had a near flawless trade deadline. Between him and Steve Cohen, we see they will go for it, and the Mets are extraordinarily well run.
Call this a test balloon if you will, but Stearns showed his has what it takes to get the Mets to the 2024 postseason. He showed he has what it takes to get another World Series title to Queens.
This will go down in the annals of trades I care about more than most, but Tyler Stuart was a high cost for Jesse Winker.
Now, to Mets fans Winker is Babe Ruth. This guy just wears out the New York Mets, and there is value in keeping him away from potential first round opponents. Still, a team building long and short term shouldn’t make a trade like this.
Winker is a platoon bat. Even if you want to say he isn’t, that’s likely his role on this team. He’s also on an expiring deal. Players like this are nice when they hit.
Remember back to Tyler Naquin. Mets fans were doing backflips over getting him. That was until he and his .203/.246/.390 batting line proved to be an abject disaster.
Notably, Jose Acuña has a 1.77 Double-A affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds. The 20 year old Hector Rodríguez has a .746 OPS in Single-A. We don’t know what they’ll become, but when Naquin gave the Mets nothing, these prospects were basically just thrown away.
Stuart, 24, had a pedestrian 3.76 for Double-A Binghamton. What you liked was the 2.1 BB/9 against the 9.6 K/9.
He’s predominantly a fastball-slider pitcher with a high swing and miss rate with his slider. Long term, he’s probably a reliever, and with his control, he could rotate between the rotation and bullpen. He’s probably poised to make his Major League Debut sometime in 2025.
To some extent, think José Buttó. Yes, the stuff is different and so is the control. However, Buttó flashed two good pitches in the minors. Now, he’s a solid pitcher in the Mets pen with a promise to become much more.
If we go back to 2022, you’d be tearing your hair out watching Buttó become a good reliever at a time where Carlos Mendoza has to sacrifice a chicken to get through a game where he needs to use more than one reliever, which is every game.
If we want, we can over focus on Winker not hitting in the postseason, but that was just four games. In the inverse, we can look at his good numbers against the Atlanta Braves this season.
The main thing to like about this deal is David Stearns is going for it. He’s not making the Josh Hader mistake with this team. So far, he hasn’t truly impacted the long-term outlook of the team.
That said, he paid a high price for a platoon bat. As we’ve seen time and again, unless you’re Steve Pearce on the 2018 Boston Red Sox, you typically come to regret these deals.
If Winker is Pearce, and the Mets win the World Series, who cares what Stuart does in his career. If the Mets don’t win, this trade was a mistake. Let’s hope this isn’t a mistake.