Question of the week: Grade the trade deadline

[Brock Beauchamp]

Now that the dust has settled, what grade do you give?

[smg58]

Judging it by itself and not on the fact that we knew we needed to sell by mid-June, I'd go with a B.  The deal with the Cubs brought in our new #1 prospect, which is a big win, but the rest of the deals fall under "OK, I guess."

[MFS62]

They did clear a lot of future dollars, so that's was a plus.

They hollowed out the bullpen of several competent pitchers, so that was a minus.

They got a possible future starting infielder,, so that was a plus.

They didn't get any hitters who can help near term, and to me that's a minus.

So, Overall, I give them a C+

Later

[The Hot Corner]

I guess I would rate it as "B" overall.  Mostly off loaded guys that would have been gone after the season ended anyway.  Best to get as much as possible for them.  

Hard to rate this in a vacuum, though.  The trade deadline sell-off was a decent first step, but there is so much work to be done to make the Mets a viable team going forward.  So much depends upon how the team utilizes the money coming off the books and prospects attained to fill many glaring needs (bullpen, starting pitching, second base, first base, &  dependable RH bat with power) in order to be competitive in 2027 and beyond. 

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'll feel better about all this if Jefferson Rojas turns out to be better than Pete Crow-Armstrong.

I know there's no connection between the two other than the trading partner, but, you know, feelings.

[Frayed Knot]

Quote

I'll feel better about all this if Jefferson Rojas turns out to be better than Pete Crow-Armstrong.

 

That's going to be real tough because PC-A is rapidly turning into a monster in front of our eyes at the ripe old age of 24.

When a guy's rep is that of a speedy glove man it's easy to think of him as a slap and run hitter. But he's now top-5 in all MLB in extra base hits (and nearly half those XBH are HRs) and he's done all this while more than doubling his walk rate just since last season [4.5% in '25 to 12% in '26]. His OPS+ in his three full years has gone from 88 to 115 to 154*. He was 9th in MVP last year. This season he might have to stumble down the stretch just to fall out of a top 5 finish.

 

 

* Actually higher since he's got three hits including two HRs this afternoon (as the Cubs are kicking Dodger butt again today)