In unique position to win it all, Mets were not nearly aggressive enough at trade deadline

Ahead of the 2022 MLB trade deadline, the expectation was that the Mets -- with the second-best record in the National League, on pace for the second-best regular season in team history, and in unique position to win the World Series for reasons we'll discuss below -- would get lots of reinforcements to fortify the team for the stretch run and postseason.

Don't get it twisted, though. That didn't mean making a "splash" for the sake of it, and it didn't mean throwing caution to the wind and emptying the best prospects from the farm system.

Rather, it meant putting the team in the best position to hold on in the NL East and go far in the playoffs.

Billy Eppler and Co., under guidance from owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson, did not do that. In fact, they came up way short.

To call the Mets' trade deadline a disaster would be overstating it, but it's more than fair to call it woefully inadequate and a bit shocking.

The Mets' haul at the deadline was Darin Ruf, who could form a very good DH platoon with Daniel Vogelbach, and Mychal Givens, a solid right-handed reliever who can pitch late in games but isn't a shutdown guy. That's it.

Granted, the Mets also acquired Vogelbach and OF Tyler Naquin in the weeks leading up to the deadline, and that counts. But that they didn't do more to bolster this team was truly head-scratching.

When discussing this deadline, two things can be true.

One, the Mets were right to be measured while trying to become a sustainable winner and should not have traded their best prospects for rentals.

Two, they have a very good chance to win the World Series and harmed it by not being aggressive enough.

Speaking about 90 minutes after the deadline passed, as Jacob deGrom was making his season debut, lots of what Eppler said rang a bit hollow.

Specifically, this quote from Eppler stood out as being too calculating and out of touch with the Mets' present situation:

"One of the things we have talked about here is trying to maintain that organizational discipline to try to crush any urge to make a snap or impulsive decision and give up large amounts of future World Series odds or expectation just in exchange for marginal gains right now," Eppler said. "I think some of that undisciplined thinking can lead to years of mediocrity."

Eppler is right that undisciplined thinking can lead to years of mediocrity, but there's a way to not mortgage your future and risk years of mediocrity while still improving a hell of a lot more than the Mets just did.

Being measured is fine, but the Mets were too measured -- to their detriment.

There are other teams that aim to have the same model the Mets want -- perennial winner -- that were much more aggressive, including the Houston Astros, who added catcher Christian Vazquez, designated hitter Trey Mancini, and reliever Will Smith.

Then there were the Yankees, who have been more careful lately to not spend wildly and empty their farm, but who had one of the best deadlines of any team.

You should not make moves based on what other teams are doing, but clearly there were deals to be made, despite Eppler's argument that the price points for most of those deals weren't to the Mets' liking.

Clearly, some of the prices were high, and there's evidence that points to that -- including the Chicago Cubs not trading pending free agent Willson Contreras and the Detroit Tigers not trading Andrew Chafin.

But if the Mets didn't like the price for Contreras, they should've tried harder for Vazquez, whom the Astros acquired for two prospects who were not on their top 30 when the season started.

If the Mets didn't like the cost of Chafin, a left-handed reliever they badly needed, they should've been more aggressive in their pursuit of other lefty relievers or righty Michael Fulmer, who went to the Minnesota Twins in a deal where 24-year-old pitching prospect Sawyer Gipson-Long -- who was not on the Twins' top 30 to start the season -- was dealt to Detroit.

Those are just two examples of what the Mets could've done, instead of leaving themselves exposed in the bullpen and with a black hole at catcher when it comes to expected offense.

Why does all of this matter so much more this season?

It matters because this might be the Mets' only chance with both deGrom and Max Scherzer atop the rotation.

It matters because Edwin Diaz is having a truly historic season and is also a pending free agent.

It matters because there are lots of other important players, like Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker and Brandon Nimmo, who might also be gone via free agency after the season.

And while it would be nice for the Mets to be able to rely on Trevor May fortifying their bullpen, they can't. It would also be nice to think Tylor Megill will return healthy and be a key piece of the 'pen, but they can't rely on that, either.

May and Megill might very well turn out to be important cogs, but they're both big what-ifs. And in a season where the Mets are so well positioned to win it all, they shouldn't be relying on that many what-ifs. But they are.

Want an example of how short the Mets left themselves at catcher?

With runners on first and second and none out in the seventh inning on Tuesday night against the Nationals, trailing by three runs, up came catcher Tomas Nido. The Mets had such little faith in Nido coming through that they had him drop down a sacrifice bunt.

As it relates to the way the Mets handled this year's trade deadline, there needed to be a balance between basing their decisions off what the numbers and World Series probabilities are telling them, and what they were seeing with their eyes and feeling in their gut.

Anyone who's watched this team can see that it's special, can feel that it's close to winning its first World Series since 1986. And they were not given the reinforcements they needed.

The Mets can still win the whole thing, and maybe they will. But if they don't, people will likely look back at their tepid trade deadline, when their front office seemingly let probabilities and fear of the future carry the day over what they were seeing right in front of their faces.