If the Mets are truly all-in at this trade deadline, as it seems after a whirlwind few hours on Wednesday, David Stearns still has work to do in addressing center field and starting pitching, but with closing time still a day away, he has already accomplished his most important task — transforming the ballclub’s weakest link.
That is, a bullpen lacking depth and quality suddenly has a chance to be as deep and dominant as any in baseball after three trades for high-leverage relievers, two of them on Wednesday.
In acquiring submariner Tyler Rogers from the San Francisco Giants and 100 mph man Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals, in addition to last week’s deal for left-hander Gregory Soto from the Baltimore Orioles, Stearns landed a haul of big-time bullpen arms.
Throw in Edwin Diaz as closer, a second left-hander in the recently returned Brooks Raley, while sliding Ryan Stanek and Reed Garrett down on the depth chart, with one more spot ideally for a multi-inning reliever…that’s an impressive array of arms.
A ton of swing-and-miss potential and a variety of different looks.
“That’s a bullpen you can win a championship with,” one NL scout told me Wednesday night. “I’ve got to give Stearns and that front office credit. They turned a weakness into a strength and with the moves they made, and I have to believe they’re not done.
“You don’t bring in a couple of big rentals if you’re not going for it. And they’ve built their farm system the last few years, so it’s deep enough to take some hits when you have this type of opportunity. So I’m curious to see what else they’re willing to do.”
Mets fans no doubt second that intriguing thought: after all, if this was Wednesday, what the heck could Thursday bring before the 6 p.m. deadline?
And just how high will Stearns go up his prospect list if it means acquiring a starting pitcher, say, Sandy Alcantara or Edward Cabrera? As it is, they landed Rogers and Helsley — and Soto, too — without giving up any of their true blue-chip prospects, but it will take more to acquire either of those two starters.
It might be what they need, especially as Clay Holmes has struggled lately, raising the question of whether it’s time to move him back to the bullpen. That may not be as likely after all the bullpen trades, but there could still be a role for Holmes as a multi-inning reliever if indeed they were to acquire a front-line starter.
And then there is Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr., who could be the impact bat the Mets’ offense needs, in the perfect spot as an above-average center fielder.
But that won’t come cheap either. Would the Mets give up Luisangel Acuña and a couple of prospects for Robert? What about Mark Vientos?
For the moment, anything seems possible after Stearns’ dramatic bullpen makeover.
The quality of the arms speaks for themselves. But the depth the trades create was equally important, especially because the lack of length the Mets are getting from their starting pitchers has taxed and overtaxed the bullpen.
Now Carlos Mendoza can go to the likes of Garrett or Stanek in the middle innings, if necessary, and still have plenty of ammunition for the later innings.
He can also get aggressive in his use of two left-handers, perhaps bringing in Soto for a key matchup against Bryce Harper in, say, the sixth inning, knowing he still has Raley for later. Or vice versa.
And most importantly, in Rogers and Helsley, he has two great options as the primary setup man for Diaz, depending on matchups.
The surprise move of the day was getting Rogers, in part because the Giants had been in the thick of contention until their current six-game losing streak knocked them way down in both the NL West and NL wild-card standings.
And Rogers had been a huge piece of their bullpen, pitching to a 1.80 ERA in a league-high 53 appearances, with a 0.860 WHIP. Perhaps the best indication of his brilliance this season is his OPS+ number, which takes into account league and ballpark factors. League average is 100 — Rogers’ number is 216.
He doesn’t do it with velocity, but with the deception built into his submarine-style arm angle, throwing a frisbee slider and a hard-sinking two-seamer with arm action that hitters rarely see — and most hate.
“Nobody squares him up,” said one scout.
Francisco Alvarez, who faced Rogers last weekend in San Francisco, summed it up just as succinctly as he talked to reporters on Wednesday in San Diego, “Thank God we don’t have to face him anymore.”
Rogers can be a free agent this winter, but the Mets gave up more than what is typical for a rental, likely because they had to outbid other teams. On first blush the package of Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, and José Butto seemed like a lot, but scouts I spoke to said the stock for both Gilbert and Tidwell has dropped over the past couple of years, with one saying “neither of them projects as an above-average major leaguer.”
As for Helsley, he’s having an up-and-down season but has been very good lately, allowing one run in his last 11 appearances. His 100-mph fastball has been hit hard, which speaks to a lack of command, but his slider has been lights-out — opponents are hitting .042 against it.
To get him, the Mets sent a package headed by infielder Jesus Baez, a solid prospect but hardly a can’t-miss.
“He’s got tools but doesn’t have great baseball instincts,” one scout told me.
Scouts have been wrong before, of course, so we’ll see. But the bigger point is that this is the right time for Stearns to make calls on his prospects, after the Mets did a good job creating a surplus the last few years, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.
With perhaps more to come.
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