✏️ Grading the Mets 2026 Trade Deadline

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Yeah, I’m back! Sorry for the radio silence for the last few weeks. I’ll be honest, I started a new job as a newsletter editor and all of my newsletter creativity has been focused on that.

However, I spent last weekend getting re-energized and writing like a madman. I’ve got some fun “what-if” scenarios for you in the coming weeks. Plus, some other one-off newsletters. Seriously, Google loves my best Citi Field food post.

Plus, it’s the trade deadline. It’s my favorite day of the year.

Anyway, today I thought I’d give you my thoughts on the Mets trade deadline deals. It’s a bit different vibe than last year’s special edition trade deadline newsletter.

See you again on Friday!

Andrew

The Mets’ sell-off began in earnest on July 30. It’s fitting that Minter was the first one to get traded ahead of the deadline, as his departure felt like a foregone conclusion for months now.

What is something teams always want as they make a playoff push? Relief pitching. Specifically, left-handed relief pitching. What did the Mets have a surplus off? Left-handed relief pitching on expiring contracts.

As I said, it was all but certain Minter would be playing for another team before the deadline passed.

What did the Mets get in return? Nothing too crazy, but that didn’t shock me. Minter — while he has a proven track record — he hasn’t had the swing-and-miss stuff he used to have since returning from injury earlier this year.

The Mets got two of the Twins’ top 30 prospects in the deal, two infielders in Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani (yes, he is Benny Agbayani’s kid. This makes me feel old, but it’s a fun side-story).

Amick has some pop, hitting 23 home runs this season with an .820 OPS in AA this season. While Agbayani is still just 19 years old and has been injured. He’s more of a wild-card.

Two solid, but not eye-popping, prospects for a reliever in a lost season? I’ll take it. Solid deal.

This trade feels worse than it actually is.

When the Mets traded for Peralta, we were all pumped. Yes, giving up highly ranked prospects in Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams felt like a slight overpay, but he was supposed to be the anchor the Mets needed in their rotation.

It didn’t work out that way.

Instead, the Mets traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for SP Gary Gill Hill, IF Emilien Pitre, and OF Aidan Smith.

This feels like it was a “quantity over quality” kind of trade, but the more I look into it, the more I like it. Especially considering Peralta is more name value and a gamble than what you expected. He’s been pretty awful this year.

Also, when you consider what the Dodgers ended up giving up for SP Tarik Skubal — a pitcher in a whole other stratosphere than Peralta — I think David Stearns did a pretty good job with this haul. Another good piece of context is the pretty mid return the Toronto Blue Jays got for SP Kevin Gausman, another rental arm.

Also, it’s worth remembering: If you love rankings, and I’ve seen that as a main criticism of this trade, you need to consider that not every prospect list is equal. The Rays are known to have a deep farm system, so their lower ranked prospects would be higher in other organizations.

For what it’s worth, as of Monday morning, ESPN ranked Gill Hill and Pitre near the top of their rankings of prospects who were dealt at the trade deadline.

Gill Hill is a strike-thrower and is from New York, so that’s fun. Meanwhile, Pitre seems to have the most helium in the deal, and seems like someone who with some more development could be a solid player. Smith at one time seemed like a big time prospect, but has cooled since being involved in the deal that sent OF Randy Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners a few years ago.

Overall, I think this is a decent return for Peralta. The Athletic’s Keith Law said the Mets “ended up doing better than I would have guessed” given the season Peralta has had so far.

Also, just take a look at players who the Mets gave up to get Peralta. They were highly ranked prospects and both of them are having bad seasons. It’s always a gamble.

When I first saw it, I was disappointed, but when you factor in all of the context and look at the players a bit more, it starts to make more sense.

This trade was a little more surprising because Brazoban still has several years of control and nothing was forcing the Mets to trade him.

However, it’s also worth considering that Brazoban is 37 years old and relievers are fickle. So in the middle of a very good year, his value will likely never be higher.

The Mets shipped him to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for right-handed pitchers Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin. For what it’s worth, Davis was ranked as Chicago’s No. 18 prospect.

Davis has a good fastball and profiles as a reliever in the big leagues.

As (friend of the newsletter) Mike Mayer noted on Monday morning, Davis was also a college teammate of Nolan McLean and Carson Benge. All of these deals have some sort of charming side-story, huh?

Franklin is 27, and has been pitching in AAA for the White Sox this year. It seems likely we’ll see him pitching in the bullpen at some point before the end of the season.

Again, this feels worse than it probably is. But I can’t get too worked up over middle reliever trades. I just liked the return for Minter more, personally.

O.K. Look. My immediate reaction to this was anger for trading with the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s irrational, but what can I say?

That being said, I just feel like they could have gotten a bit more for such a high-leverage reliever like Raley. He’s better than Minter, and I guess I’m more meh on the return they got.

That being said, the Mets got OF John Spikerman and SP Luke Gabrysh. Joe DeMayo, of SNY, seems to think that Spikerman profiles as a potential fourth outfielder with a good OBP. Meanwhile, with a mid-to-high 90s fastball, Gabrysh “might be the more interesting piece” in the deal, according to DeMayo. Mayer, of MetsMerized, noted today that Gabrysh has “been one of the best strikeout pitchers in the South Atlantic League.”

But at the end of the day, Raley is a 38-year-old middle reliever on an expiring contract. You can’t expect too much in return. At least this trade with the Phillies didn’t involve a favor to Jeff Wilpon. I guess that’s a plus.

The Mets acquired SS Sammy Stafura, the Pirates No. 15 prospect according to MLB, for RP Luke Weaver.

Many folks seem to think Stafura is the best prospect the Mets acquired (as of Monday afternoon) this trade deadline. That makes sense, as Weaver was having a fantastic season and has an extra year on his contract next year. You’d expect the price to be higher since he wasn’t a rental.

Stafura was a second round pick for the Cincinnati Reds before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2B Ke’Bryan Hayes trade.

Once again, the Mets trades had a narrative attached to it. Stafura is from New York and grew up as a Mets fan. Even the Mets got in on it. I mean…. come on. How is that not easy to root for?

Also, it’s hard not to like this: He told Michael Marino that “I’m ready to get after it, I am one of the biggest Mets fans ever and will give the Mets everything I have.”

I saw Stafura described as “high risk high reward,” which for a reliever seems like a good return.

Weaver was a bright spot in a down season, he’ll be missed.

Woah!

As the deadline got close to the wire, the Mets traded SP Clay Holmes and OF Tyrone Taylor for INF Jefferson Rojas, the Cubs No. 2 ranked prospect according to MLB.

The 21-year-old is a good get. He’s listed as a Top 100 prospect on many lists, and was the No. 63 on MLB’s list. For a rental starter and a fourth outfielder, that’s a very good return.

Rojas should slot among the best Mets prospects — if not their best prospect — on lists shortly.

I always thought the Mets would get more if they packaged players together, and this seemed to confirm that idea. This trade will turn the Mets into “winners” in several “winners and losers of the MLB Trade Deadline” lists that come out over the next several days.

Can the Mets get some kind of vengeance on the Cubs for trading Pete Crow Armstrong there?

Tall order, but one can dream.

I think (another friend of the newsletter) James Schiano summed it up best on the Mets’d Up Podcast:

“You don’t really get many literal Top 100 prospects traded at the deadline ever. What you are trying to is get guys who can be Top 100 prospects next year. That’s kind of the goal of the trade deadline.”

I know it feels like the Mets big sell-off should have resulted in more prospect capital, but I just don’t think that’s how the trade deadline works anymore. The days of sending your best prospect for a rental are over.

That being said, Jefferson Rojas is a get. There’s no doubt about it.

Also, it’s not like the Mets were working with a lot here. They were selling because almost everyone underperformed. One of their biggest trade chips, Peralta, was very bad this year. They got what they got because of his name recognition and track record, not his performance this year.

The Mets got some intriguing players who, at the very least, deepen their farm system. I think, overall, this was a pretty good showing by Stearns and the front office.

This is a lost season, it’s time to see what the younger parts of this team can do and prepare for next season (ya know, if there is one).

We’ll have our regularly scheduled Almost A Met on Friday. It will include someone who was actually traded during this year’s trade deadline? Can you guess who it is?