There was nothing splashy about what David Stearns did at the Mets’ trade deadline, to be sure. But he was efficient, finding upgrades for the bullpen and adding starting pitching depth without giving up significant prospects -- no small matter considering the exorbitant cost for pitching around the majors.
Including the deals made in the days and weeks leading up to the deadline, the Mets acquired four relievers, one starting pitcher, and a lefty bat in Jesse Winker.
All in all, it’s probably not the haul Mets fans were hoping for. Or perhaps Brandon Nimmo either, considering how public he was about wanting his front office to be buyers at the deadline.
But most notably the trades should help the bullpen, which has been the weak link in the ballclub. Phil Maton, acquired a couple of weeks ago, has looked good so far, while Huascar Brazoban, who comes over from the Marlins, has the stuff to be a valuable late-inning reliever.
And in acquiring Paul Blackburn from the Oakland A’s on Tuesday, Stearns got a back-end starter who could replace Tylor Megill in the rotation and, perhaps just as important, allow the Mets to leave converted starter Jose Butto in the bullpen, where he has been very effective.
Here are the grades for the individual deals and the overall deadline performance.
Huascar Brazoban
At age 34, Brazoban is a late bloomer who pitched in the minors for a decade before breaking through to the big leagues, but has emerged this season as a strong reliever for the Miami Marlins, pitching to a 2.93 ERA and an impressive ERA-plus of 150, or double the league average.
The Mets got the Miami Marlins reliever for 20-year-old minor league infielder Wilfredo Lara, who is not considered a top prospect.
Brazoban averages about 96 mph with his fastball but has a five-pitch mix, and gets a lot of ground balls with his slider and changeup. He has allowed only 20 hits in 30.2 innings.
Because it took him so long to reach the big leagues, he’s under the Mets’ control for four more seasons before reaching free agency.
GRADE: A
Paul Blackburn
Ideally, the Mets needed a front-end-of-the-rotation starter, especially with Kodai Senga sidelined for the rest of the regular season, but Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Blake Snell of the San Francisco Giants, who fit that standard, were only available if a team were to bowl them over with a package of blue-chip prospects, according to sources.
So the Mets settled for Blackburn, a righthander from the Oakland A’s who was pitching to a 4.41 ERA in 51 innings, having just recently returned from a stress reaction injury in his foot.
He’s not overpowering, throwing his 92-mph four-seam fastball only about 23 percent of the time this season, and relies heavily on breaking stuff as part of a six-pitch mix to get a lot of ground balls when he’s going well.
Blackburn is under control for the 2025 season before potentially reaching free agency.
GRADE: C
Phil Maton
The Mets moved relatively early, on July 9, to acquire Maton from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations or a player to be named later, which essentially means the cost is low because the Rays were happy to move Maton’s salary.
Maton was having a so-so season for the Rays but pitching better of late when acquired, and so far he has looked good for the Mets, giving up just one run, on a solo home run, in seven appearances spanning six innings.
The right-hander is more finesse than power, relying heavily on an assortment of breaking pitches, to go with a 91 mph cutter. He has a history of pitching well in the post-season for the Houston Astros and is currently among the best of the Mets’ late-inning options out of the bullpen.
GRADE: A
Jesse Winker
The Mets made a solid move a few days ago to get a better left-handed hitter than DJ Stewart for their lineup while giving up mid-level pitching prospect Tyler Stuart.
Winker was having a bounce-back season for the Washington Nationals, after dealing with significant injuries the last couple of seasons. He has good plate discipline and takes his walks, which translated to a .374 on-base percentage with the Nationals, and he hit enough to have a .793 OPS.
Winker can play right field, especially while Starling Marte is out with a knee injury, and should make the Mets better against righthanded pitching. He had a .840 OPS vs. righthanders while with the Nationals.
GRADE: B +
Ryne Stanek
The veteran reliever was having a sub-par season with the Seattle Mariners, and became available when the M’s acquired Yimi Garcia from the Toronto Blue Jays and needed a spot for him on their 40-man roster.
In minor league outfielder Rylhan Thomas the Mets didn’t give up much for Stanek. Thomas wasn’t on Baseball America’s list of Top 30 Mets’ prospects.
At age 33, Stanek is still among the hardest throwers in baseball, averaging 98 mph with his fastball, but the right-hander was pitching to a 4.38 ERA with the Mariners, and in his first outing for the Mets, Sunday against the Atlanta Braves, he gave up two home runs in one inning.
GRADE: C
Tyler Zuber
The Mets took a flyer on Zuber, a 29-year-old journeyman who has thrown a total of 52 innings in the big leagues. The right-hander was called up by the Tampa Bay Rays nine days ago after spending most of the season in Triple-A.
To get him the Mets gave up 6-foot-10 minor league pitcher Paul Gervase, their 12th-round draft choice out of LSU in 2022.
GRADE: C
Overall
To sum up, Stearns resisted any temptation to go all-in on the ’24 Mets, preferring to stick to the big-picture plan of building a sustainable winner, at least partly on the strength of an improving farm system.
He made moves that should improve the bullpen, the biggest weakness, but chose not to pay a high price to significantly improve the starting rotation. And comes away from it without giving up any top prospects.
How much impact his moves will have remains to be seen.
