New York Mets are all talk no action on deadline day
By Ed Stein
New York Mets fans were geared up for a big trade deadline. They had big names in play, but in the end, nothing happened on Wednesday.
For the past week, the New York Mets were a central figure in the Major League trade deadline gossip. They said they had available the Holy Grail of what general managers were seeking, pitching. Names such as Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, and Edwin Diaz were kicked around. None of them went anywhere.
The Mets lone trade out was to dump their fifth starter, Jason Vargas, and they paid Philadelphia to take him. Additionally, the New York Mets were reported to be sellers this year, instead, they bought. General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen traded for local product Marcus Stroman from Toronto in exchange for two of the Mets top-10 prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson.
Questions
That move for Stroman prompted questions about what the New York Mets intentions were for the rest of this season. They started Wednesday five games out of a National League Wild Card spot. By not moving any of their top pitchers, they answered one of those questions. They appear to be going for the 2019 postseason. There are others, however.
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If they want to be a playoff team, why didn’t they try to add a relief pitcher to their shell-shocked bullpen?
With Brandon Nimmo‘s status uncertain going forward, and Juan Lagares sporting a sub-Mendoza batting average, why not get a center fielder who can hit a little bit?
The New York Mets have the worst fielding infield in baseball. In addition to the above needs, Amazins also could have used a good fielding middle infielder with a little offensive punch, especially since Adeiny Hechavarria is hitting .208 since June 7. Why wouldn’t they bring in someone better and let the light hitting Hecharria go?
Finally, their Triple-A roster is filled with former major leaguers, some of who are having good seasons. BVW couldn’t move one of them to a team looking for bench help for a mid-level prospect to restock the system?
All the New York Mets pre-deadline bluster with statements like any trade offer by the Yankees for Syndergaard had to be substantially better than any other offer for a trade to happen was all smoke. San Diego reportedly offered up good packages for Thor, so he was in demand.
Teams such as the Yankees and Astros were also interested in Wheeler. As time expired, NYY didn’t make any significant deals and Houston traded their third, fourth, and fifth-best prospects to Arizona for five-time all-star Zack Grienke.
We will see in the next few weeks if Van Wagenen was correct by standing pat as the deadline clock ran out.