Insider Reveals Why Mets Didn’t Land One of These Top Trade Targets
The New York Mets had a plan and they stuck to it, resulting in a solid but far from flashy trade deadline.
This, however, did not stop them from at least checking in on some potential big name acquisitions that would have substantially improved their ball club down the stretch.
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the Mets did in fact check on star relievers such as Tanner Scott, Carlos Estevez, Kyle Finnegan and Pete Fairbanks, among others.
That being said, they were unwilling to part with any of their top prospects: Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Ryan Clifford, Luisangel Acuna, Blake Tidwell, Brandon Sproat (late season call-up candidate) etc. in order to land one of these big fish, as Heyman reported.
Former top prospect Brett Baty, who lost his third base job to Mark Vientos in May, and has been in Triple-A Syracuse ever since, was a player who drew a lot of interest from clubs at the deadline, but the Mets still have high hopes for him, as Heyman revealed.
The Mets never intended on mortgaging the future this year. The team looked like clear sellers by the end of May, but have come roaring back with a record of 35-18 since then. They now sit at 57-51 and a half game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.
Per Heyman, other teams didn’t even bother checking on the availability of pending free agent Pete Alonso given the Mets’ resurgence and indication they were not going to sell amid their turnaround.
President of baseball operations David Stearns brought in Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, Huascar Brazoban, Tyler Zubner and Paul Blackburn to add reinforcements to the Mets’ pitching staff. He also acquired left-handed hitting outfielder Jesse Winker. It wasn’t an all-in year, but Stearns seemingly did a good job to help his team push for a postseason spot.