In total, the Mets ended up adding six reinforcements ahead of Tuesday evening’s MLB trade deadline as they look to bulk up the team for their push in a very crowded National League Wild Card race.
While first-year president of baseball operations David Stearns didn’t add the type of top-tier talent some fans were hoping for, he did make smart and strategic additions that should help this team get where they want to go down the stretch.
Outfielder Jesse Winker has already provided a nice little spark to the middle of the lineup, reaching base three times across six at-bats over his first two starts since donning the orange and blue.
Veteran starting pitcher Paul Blackburn missed significant time earlier this year, but he figures to bring some stability and consistency to the backend of the rotation after being acquired from the Oakland Athletics.
His addition also allows the Mets to keep young right-hander Jose Butto in a setup role out of the bullpen for the time being, which he has been absolutely dominant at since rejoining the team from Triple-A.
And on that front, Stearns also added some much-needed help on top of Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek, picking up hard-throwing right-hander Huascar Brazoban from the Marlins and Tyler Zuber from the Rays.
While this team certainly still has some flaws they'll need to work out on their own, first-year skipper Carlos Mendoza is happy with how the front office bulked up the squad over the last few weeks.
“I thought it was great,” he said. “We’re excited to continue to add to the team, we feel good with what we have in that room, and we’re ready to go. We have a ways to go and we’ll continue to take things one day at a time, but I feel like we’re in a better position now.”
The Mets have been playing tremendous baseball over the past few months, which is why they quickly turned from definite sellers into a buyer ahead of this evening's deadline.
They'll now look to keep things rolling with their new pieces jumping into the mix starting on Wednesday afternoon when they look to secure a three-game series sweep of the Minnesota Twins.
After their victory in which Sean Manaea dominated on Tuesday, they now sit 1.0 games ahead of the San Diego Padres for the second WC spot and just 0.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the top slot.
Mendoza knows it’s going to be an absolute battle down the stretch, but it certainly sounds like he feels they've put together the right squad to get the job done.