NY Mets: Breaking down Mets’ additions of Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley
The Mets bolstered their bullpen by adding Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley one night before the trade deadline on Wednesday night in San Diego.
David Stearns does not look at the Mets roster in terms of windows of opportunity.
While Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso are on the other side of 30 years old and Juan Soto is in his prime, the Mets president of baseball operations knows that does not change his job description year over year.
With one of the top payrolls in baseball, a passionate fanbase and a major market, Stearns’ responsibility as the leader of the Mets front office is to build a team that can “make the playoffs and ultimately win a World Series every single year.”
That goal feels more tangible than it has in quite some time for the Mets following a trade deadline haul in which Stearns brought in some of the most dangerous relievers in baseball in Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto and filled in a need for some added explosiveness at the center field position with Cedric Mullins.
“I don’t view this period of Mets competitiveness in a defined window,” Stearns said. “I view it as the beginning of what should be a very long and sustained period of competitiveness at the highest level. And I think the moves we were able to make the last couple of days certainly help that this year without, in a very material way, sacrificing some really high upside, special talent that could help us in years to come.”
David Stearns’ approach to the deadline
The Mets front office made four distinguished additions by only giving up one major league player in Jose Butto, two of the club’s top 10 prospects in Jesus Baez and Blade Tidwell and three top 20 prospects in Drew Gilbert, Nate Dohm and Anthony Nunez.
“These are largely really good players, good people,” Stearns said. “We’re rooting for them and we were in a position where we thought that these deals made sense, giving up good players to get players who maybe can help us in a little bit more concentrated fashion right now.”
For the Mets, this year’s trade deadline was all about the here and now. In the process, they did not leverage any of their blue-chip talent in the minor leagues, with shortstop Jett Williams, right-handed pitchers Jonah Tong, Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat and outfield prospect Carson Benge all staying put. Sproat is the only one of those names outside MLB’s Top 100 prospect list.
Meanwhile, the three players traded away in the deal to acquire Cedric Mullins were signed to minor league contracts as undrafted free agents within the last two seasons.
For Stearns, that was one of the key wins of the day for the Mets organization.
“Our amateur talent acquisition departments and our player development group put us in position to be able to have this type of deadline where we were able to go out acquire players that we think are really going to help us at the major league level and not touch some really high upside players at the top of our system,” Stearns said.
In Helsley, the Mets have another reliever who has a proven ability to shut down games in the most pivotal moments year after year. Rogers provides one of the most unorthodox deliveries and best ground ball rates in baseball.
“Very excited to be able to bring in two guys like that who have had success either at the back end of the game or close to the back end of the game in true leverage environments and big spots,” Stearns said.
From the Orioles, Soto is another high-end left-hander to give the Mets an extra edge against righties. And Mullins is a high-end defender in the heart of the outfield who brings athleticism on both sides of the ball.
The quartet of Mets newcomers will all be free agents at the end of the season, making it this regime’s first big swing to take a major step forward after last season’s trip to the NLCS.
A National League arms race
Despite the names of high-level starters, albeit questioned aces, like the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara, Twins’ Joe Ryan and Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen being floated, the only major starting pitcher to be dealt was the Dbacks’ Merrill Kelly.
It took the Rangers dealing their Nos. 5, 9 and 13 prospects to land the 36-year-old Kelly, who is 9-6 with a 3.22 ERA in 22 starts this season. The new Rangers starter is on an expiring deal.
“I think there are multiple ways to build a pitching staff, and we focused on the back end of a pitching staff, the bullpen,” Stearns said. “We’re really happy with the arms we’re able to acquire who are going to pitch out of our pen, and we have confidence, not only in the starters who are here, who we think are going to keep us competitive and help us win games, we’re also pleased with the development of how some of the guys in Triple A are progressing.”
Stearns said he believes the up-and-coming arms of McLean and Sproat, who are the Mets’ No. 3 and 5 prospects, could soon factor into the pitching calculus at the major league level.
And with the high cost of starting pitching, the Mets, along with fellow National League contenders Phillies and Padres, took aggressive approaches to add firepower to the back end of their bullpens. The Phillies, who have the seventh-worst bullpen ERA, added Twins closer Jhoan Duran, owner of 16 saves and a 2.01 ERA, along with center fielder Harrison Bader.
The Padres made perhaps the biggest splash, landing Athletics’ controllable closer Mason Miller, a big arm who was an All-Star as a rookie with 48 career saves, at the expense of No. 3 overall prospect Leo De Vries and three others. They also added All-Star Ryan O’Hearn and outfielder Ramon Laureano from the Orioles.
Those flurries of moves from three NL contenders underscored what should be an ultracompetitive closing stretch. The Mets enter this weekend’s series with the Giants a half-game up on the Phillies in the NL East and the third spot in the NL.
The Brewers added Shelby Miller and Jordan Montgomery from the Dbacks in their biggest move, while the Cubs brought in Michael Soroka and Andrew Kittredge in separate moves. The Dodgers added outfielder Alex Call.
In a National League arms race, the Mets filled their arsenal to best shut down some high-powered offenses down the stretch.
“The more guys you can have back there that you have confidence in, I think the better,” Stearns said, “and hopefully now we’ve got quite a few that can get big outs for us in big spots.”