Cedric Mullins was a necessary addition, but who did they give up for him?
The fourth and final trade the Mets made at the deadline was also the only one to feature a position player coming into the organization, as they traded for long time Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins.
Mullins has been in the big leagues—with every game coming with the Orioles—since 2018. He struggled for the first few seasons of his career before a breakout 2021 campaign, which saw him hit .291/.360/.518, go 30/30, and amass 6.0 fWAR. He never reached those heights again, but he has largely been an above-average to good player since, with his only sub-par season coming in 2023.
The Mets, who seemingly were acting by the rule of threes this deadline, traded three minor league pitcher for the MLB The Show Diamond Dynasty legend and the regular center fielder for the 2025 Mets. They sent out Raimon Gómez, Anthony Nunez, and Chandler Marsh, which are not household names, but are interesting nonetheless.
Gómez, who the Mets signed for $10,000 out of Venezuela made his organizational debut in 2021 and hit the ground running out of the pen. He is a stuff demon with some really ridiculous fastball velocity (he threw a 104 mph pitch this season, which !!!), but he has very little idea where its going. He pairs a 30.4% strikeout rate this season with a 15.8% walk rate across two levels, which is the crux of his issues.
Gómez ran through the Dominican Summer League in 2021, was promoted to St. Lucie in 2022 and was solid but unspectacular. 2023 was a disaster for him, as he pitched in three games, did not pitch well, and had to undergo Tommy John Surgery which ended his 2023 and 2024 seasons before they began. He came back in 2025 and started well in St. Lucie, but since hit a wall in Brooklyn, as he had a 6.45 ERA, his strikeout rate dropped to 27.2% (as opposed to the 36.4% he ran in his six game cameo in St. Lucie). The stuff is definitely something to dream on, but its also pretty raw as of now.
Chandler Marsh and Anthony Nunez are a pair of UDFA’s, but could not be more different otherwise. Marsh, who was signed after the 2024 draft out of the University of Georgia, burst onto the scene by being basically perfect at St. Lucie. The former college reliever (who had a 5.63 ERA at Georgia) was basically perfect in Single-A, throwing 10.2 scoreless innings, surrendering just two hits, walking one, and striking out 14. That obviously gave him a one way ticket to Coney Island, where he did not keep a spotless ERA, but was still solid. He had a 3.45 ERA for Brooklyn, striking out 28.8% of batters, walking 12.1%. He is your pretty typical fastball-slider(ish) pitcher, throwing in the mid-90s with an 80s mph breaker.
Anthony Nunez was someone I personally was keeping an eye on because he is an interesting story. Nunez was actually drafted way back in 2019 in the 29th round by the San Diego Padres, as a shortstop out of Miami Springs High School in, well, Miami Springs, Florida. He, for lack of a better term, did not work out, hitting a paltry .217/.369/.307 across 73 games in Single-A and Rookie Ball. He got released after the 2021 season, but was eligible to go to Division II University of Tampa because he played so little at the professional level. The University of Tampa baseball team, which is a powerhouse at the Division II level (they are ten time National Champions, including back to back winners in 2024 and 2025) allowed him to play the infield and pitch, which is an integral part of his journey.
The Mets signed him in 2024 as a pitcher, during which he threw in nine games, but he put his name on the “people you should keep an eye on” list during the 2025 season. Nunez dominated for Brooklyn, earning a 0.63 ERA in 14 innings before quickly getting shuffled up to Binghamton. He continued to pitch well in Double-A, earning 2.10 ERA in 25.2 innings. He uses a fastball/cutter/slider/changeup combo to strike out a lot of batters (40% K rate), but has some command issues (11.3%). He would have likely snuck in to the back end of a Top 25 list if I was forced to remake one as of last week, but that may be aggressive on my end.
The first thing I thought of with this return is: the Mets player development is world’s better than likely anyone reading this article has seen it. They turned a small bonus international free agent, and two UDFA’s (including one who was a pitcher convert his senior year of college after already being in pro ball and being released) into Cedric Mullins, who will help them try to win a World Series. The Mets have an ability to develop arms and turn them into legitimate pieces quickly — which likely is why David Stearns is so comfortable dealing from the mushy middle of their pitcher prospects. While I certainly loved Anthony Nunez’s story, was impressed by Chandler Marsh’s growth, and was intrigued by Raimon Gómez’s one million mph fastball, we should also be confident that every draft will see them create new versions of these prospects, especially since all three are relievers.
Was there ever a world under Fred and Jeff Wilpon where the Mets could add a starting caliber center fielder, albeit not an elite one, but a definite upgrade over what was on the roster, for anything less than their top five to ten prospects? I do not think so.