Trade Deadline

[ashie62]

Tyler Zuber sounds awesome

But I think Gervase will turn out to be something special:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... rvas000pau

Later

Really, was he caught with the managers wife?

[smg58]

Flaherty is going to the Dodgers.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers

Garrett Crochet staying put. Surprised at the White Sox for this. Did Luis Robert go anywhere?

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I like that we're stockpiling bullpen arms.

[ashie62]

Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers

Garrett Crochet staying put. Surprised at the White Sox for this. Did Luis Robert go anywhere?

I wonder if the Mets were ever really in this

[ashie62]

Mark Canha goes back to the bay with the Giants

Good for him

[Gwreck]

In review:

Quintana, Severino, Manaea, Blackburn, Peterson, Butto

Diaz, Maton, Brazoban, Stanek, Ottavino, plus at least one lefty (Alex Young, Danny Young, Matt Gage). Open question if the last spot goes to Zuber or a second lefty.

Megill probably back to AAA, along with whichever of the lefties don’t stick.

Dedinel Nunez, Garrett, and Reid-Foley all potentially coming back from injury too.

[Cowtipper]

Brazoban isn't bad.

Actually, none of the names are eye-popping, but they acquired enough that they can throw them all at the wall and inevitably one or two will stick.

[smg58]

Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers

Garrett Crochet staying put. Surprised at the White Sox for this. Did Luis Robert go anywhere?

On one hand, there is always a risk with pitchers. On the other hand, you have two more years of Crochet and three of Robert. You trade them, and you're already punting the next three years.

[smg58]

Brazoban isn't bad.

Actually, none of the names are eye-popping, but they acquired enough that they can throw them all at the wall and inevitably one or two will stick.

That's been the approach for the last three seasons. And it hasn't worked.

[smg58]

I'm curious to see what the Dodgers paid for Flaherty and the Diamondbacks paid for Dylan Floro.

[metirish]

Stearns is sticking to his plan here ? Reset this season ,and if we contend then great, but not giving up the farm for high priced players , and I suppose with the current playoff scenario most teams are contending

[MFS62]

The more relievers the better, because that starting staff is inconsistent.
I guess nobody made an offer for Ottavino. I was hoping to see his name in the "Former Mets in Current Situations" thread.

Later

[Cowtipper]

The more relievers the better, because that starting staff is inconsistent.
I guess nobody made an offer for Ottavino. I was hoping to see his name in the "Former Mets in Current Situations" thread.

Later

None the guys I wanted gone were traded, either :-(.

[metirish]

[smg58]

Everybody asks about everybody this time of year.

The Dodgers gave up their #8 and #22 (per mlb.com) for Flaherty.

The Nats got somebody for Floro who Fangraphs listed as an "other prospect of note" (i.e., outside the top 50) because he's a bit old and profiles maybe as a first baseman, but he was tearing up the PCL.

[smg58]

And yes, it's fair to ask which one of these guys will keep us from sweating out the eighth inning.

[The Hot Corner]

...deGrom is so not happening. Get a grip

Personally, I'm thankful for that. Senga is currently doing a very close approximation of DeGrom. Virtually unhittable, but rarely available. At least Senga is costing a fraction of what the Rangers are on the hook for with DeGrom.

[Edgy MD]

If the Mets contend, and the game is close, I don't think anybody is going to keep an interested fan from sweating. It's baked in the pie.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Will Leitch had good things to say about the Mets, including the team in his ranking of who did best.

4. Mets

It is sort of remarkable how quickly we have collectively adjusted to the Mets making smart, prudent, small-scale moves. For all the bluster from the ownership box, they are operating like a team that knows it is good enough to compete this year without blowing up everything in the future. The Mets needed a left-handed bat, so they got Jesse Winker. They needed some rotation depth, so they got Paul Blackburn. They needed bullpen arms, so they got … a whole bunch of them. And they didn’t give up anything they will miss. Even better: The Braves, the team they’re chasing in the NL East and the Wild Card, didn’t do much other than try to make it 2021 again by science or magic. The Mets keep doing smart things. Eventually it’ll stop being surprising.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Will Leitch had good things to say about the Mets, including the team in his ranking of who did best.

4. Mets

It is sort of remarkable how quickly we have collectively adjusted to the Mets making smart, prudent, small-scale moves. For all the bluster from the ownership box, they are operating like a team that knows it is good enough to compete this year without blowing up everything in the future. The Mets needed a left-handed bat, so they got Jesse Winker. They needed some rotation depth, so they got Paul Blackburn. They needed bullpen arms, so they got … a whole bunch of them. And they didn’t give up anything they will miss. Even better: The Braves, the team they’re chasing in the NL East and the Wild Card, didn’t do much other than try to make it 2021 again by science or magic. The Mets keep doing smart things. Eventually it’ll stop being surprising.

I agree with Leitch's analysis. I suppose that whether he's right or wrong will depend on whether or not the Mets make the playoffs this year. But sitting here today, I like what he's saying. I think that making good smallish scale moves to improve the edges of the roster is a David Stearns specialty. Stearns transformed the recent Brewers into a perennial playoff contender. The franchise doesn't get the attention it now deserves, probably because the team plays in a smaller major city and because quite frankly, the Brewers history has been, for the most part, bland and boring.

Stearns worked at ground zero for the Astros when that franchise invented cutting technology and sabrmetric analytics to modernize the scouting and development of pitchers. That team has a knack for seeing some quality in a pitcher that other teams tend to overlook, and then understanding how to tinker with that pitcher to elevate or even transform his game. Hopefully, Stearns brought those skills to the Mets. He's gotten an extremely respectable output from the top of the Mets staff, all first year Mets acquired under Stearns -- Quintana, Manaea and Severino. The Senga saga is a tremendous blow to the Mets chances. Not just the calf strain that he sustained a few days ago but that the Mets had essentially lost the services of their best pitcher for what will likely be this entire season, dating back to Opening Day.

Steve Cohen is as good an owner as a baseball team could have; he has more money than everybody else, he's eager to win and willing to spend lots and lots of his money. But before Stearns, he has shown himself to be a bit of an impulsive naif, even if his intentions were in the right place. He made a terrible trade for Javier Baez, a trade that was obviously bad from the get-go. He gave two old pitchers each with one foot in the figurative baseball grave the largest salaries in baseball history, paying them as if they were 10 years younger. I think that Stearns will be a stabilizing influence on Cohen. Stearns has the contract and job security to stand up to Cohen and go toe to toe with him if need be.

I'm perfectly fine with the Mets not having acquired a top of the line, overly expensive player at this deadline. The game of baseball has changed radically. Given the enormous impact of luck that influences the outcomes of baseball games, and that almost half the teams will qualify for the post-season, teams should take a drastically different approach to assembling a playoff contender. Winning a World Series is extremely difficult, and requires a lot of talent but also an enormous amount of luck that is beyond the control of every team. In the end, only one team out of 30 will have won the World Series.

[MFS62]

As Branch Rickey said, "Luck is the residue of design."
And it seems that Stearns has the plan to get luck on our side.
But every good plan has a contingency plan (Project Management 101) and I think he was blind sided by the second Senga injury.
Later