Once again, as the MLB Trade Deadline comes closer, contending teams begin their annual rush to find the best deal for a relief pitcher for the business end of the season and beyond.
The Mets, who have seen their bullpen bitten by the bad luck of injuries, are no exception, with president of baseball operations David Stearns stating the obvious on Monday that the club “will be active” in that market to provide the group with reinforcements.
But unlike other teams, Stearns has another option to turn to if trade talks don’t materialize with teams on the Wild Card bubble proving to be unwilling sellers or the price for available arms becoming too expensive: the Mets’ top prospects ready for a challenge that the minor leagues can’t provide.
“Ideally, we find deals that make sense,” Stearns said during his regular news conference. “If that doesn’t happen for some reason, we probably have to begin to think of some of the arms at Triple-A and whether those guys at some point can impact us in the bullpen.”
Of course, if the top baseball man doesn’t make a trade, he will have to deal with potential tradeoffs.
“The challenge with doing that in-season is once you do that, you can’t reverse yourself in the same season,” he said. “We can certainly reverse ourselves over the offseason, but once we shorten somebody up, to give them a chance to be a member of our ‘pen, really tough to build them back up if you need them as a starter.
“And, so, we want to be very cautious if we’re gonna entertain that.”
Two of the options that spring to mind are a pair of right-handers who are Top 5 prospects in the Mets’ system and still looking to make their big league debuts, Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat. When asked if there was an organizational desire to get that duo up this year, Stearns said he doesn’t think they have to at this time.
“I think, for any prospect, it’s a combination of where they are in their developmental progression and where the team need is,” Stearns said. “Both those guys over the last three weeks have taken meaningful steps forward in their development, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.
“And if there is a need, I think either of those guys could be ready over the next couple of months.”
McLean, who is a few days shy of his 24th birthday, made the jump to Syracuse earlier this season after posting a 1.37 ERA in his first 26.1 innings in Double-A. After making that jump, he has been solid, with a 3.64 ERA and 1.197 WHIP in 64.1 innings over 12 games (nine starts), with 71 strikeouts to 29 walks.
Recently, McLean has been piling up the strikeouts with 30 in 20.2 innings over his last four starts, while allowing 10 runs (nine earned).
Sproat has pitched to a 4.34 ERA and 1.282 WHIP in 85 innings over 19 starts, with 70 strikeouts and 38 walks in his first full season at Triple-A.
The soon-to-be 25-year-old has really found a groove of late, putting together a streak of 23 innings without an earned run, allowing just one unearned run on eight hits and six walks with 27 strikeouts over his last four starts. He's holding opponents to a .111 average and .335 OPS in that span.
Not mentioned during Monday’s news conference was Blade Tidwell, who has already appeared in four games (two starts) for the Mets this season, for his first taste of MLB action. But the righty struggled in his time, surrendering 15 runs on 23 hits and 10 walks in 15.0 innings with just 10 strikeouts. He has a 9.00 ERA and a 2.200 WHIP.
At Triple-A, Tidwell has pitched to a 4.40 ERA and 1.256 WHIP in 71.2 innings on the season. And after his three most recent outings with the Mets, he has allowed just two runs on eight hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in 9.1 innings over his last two starts with Syracuse.
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