Well the trade deadline is over. Finally.
Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler are still here, despite the thousands of rumors to the contrary.
The Amazin’s surprised EVERYONE by adding Marcus Stroman this week. Everyone thought the Mets would trade Wheeler, Frazier and Vargas, maybe get a haul for Syndergaard and ride off into the sunset.
Why did they trade for Stroman? Were they planning on flipping him elsewhere? Were they putting together a super rotation? Were they buyers or sellers?
Well, the next day they literally gave Jason Vargas away for nothing. To a division rival ahead of them in the standings, no less.
What is the plan here?
Nothing came of the endless rumors, so that Jason Vargas deal was the last transaction they made. Wheeler and Syndergaard are still in Queens. That incredible rotation is still intact. It was probably the best starting rotation in baseball before Houston traded for Zack Greinke yesterday.
DeGrom, Syndergaard, Stroman, Wheeler and Matz! Are you excited?!
Well, kinda.
Listen the rotation is phenomenal. The Mets are winners of six straight and just 4.5 games out of a wildcard spot. They’ve been feasting on the weak part of their schedule, and two teams ahead of them in the standings essentially gave up yesterday.
So, what’s the problem?
The Mets stopped just short of going all in. AGAIN.
This offseason, the Mets made a franchise altering trade for Robinson Canó and Edwin Diaz. We can debate the merits of that trade elsewhere, but we can agree that the deal was an aggressive, all-in, win-now move.
Well, the Mets went into opening day with Tim Peterson in the bullpen and Keon Broxton in the outfield.
Fast forward to August 1st.
The Mets bench consists of Juan Lagares, Adeiny Hechavarría and Aaron Altherr. Shortly after the deadline yesterday, it was announced that Dominic Smith would be in a walking boot until the end of August. Brandon Nimmo doesn’t look like he’s close to returning and I won’t waste my time getting into Jed Lowrie.
The Mets won’t pitch Stephen Nogosek or Tyler Bashlor unless it’s a fifteen inning game. That really complicates things when it’s hard to trust Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia right now.
Why would you acquire Marcus Stroman and then do nothing else but trade Jason Vargas for salary relief and a college buddy of Jeff Wilpon’s son?
Listen, the trade deadline is over. It is what it is. I’ll be watching every night, hoping that the end game is Jacob deGrom pitching in a wildcard game.
All I’m saying is you could have gotten ten better options than Aaron Altherr yesterday.
LGM