It’s been a rough season for last year’s trade deadline acquisition.
While most of the attention and speculation has rightfully been on which players the Mets may trade for to boost their roster for the playoff push, it is possible we will see David Stearns and company pull off at least one other sort of transaction before the deadline passes. The Athletic has reported that the Amazins are listening to offers on starting pitcher Paul Blackburn—who the team acquired from the Athletics at last year’s deadline—and may well end up dealing him to a team in need of a starting pitcher.
If the Mets do in fact trade him, they are not expected to receive a significant return, and it is not hard to understand why given the season he has had. Between a rash of injuries, rehab assignments that have probably been stretched a bit longer than they needed to for roster purposes, and being shuttled back and forth between the rotation and bullpen, Blackburn has not experienced any level of stability in 2025. Unsurprisingly, he has thus been thoroughly disappointing when has taken the mound for the major league team, as evidenced by his 7.71 ERA across six outings. Currently, Blackburn is in the midst of yet another rehab assignment, and while he would likely be ready to rejoin the major league team at any time, there doesn’t seem to be a clear opening on the roster for him at the moment.
Of course, there’s always the danger that the Mets could trade him and then suddenly experience a rash of pitching injuries. But between the recent returns of Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea, the expected return of Tylor Megill towards the end of August, and the recent success of Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat in Syracuse, the team probably has enough starting pitching depth to feel comfortable letting Blackburn go. And given how this season has gone for him (not to mention his impending free agency at the end of the year), a change of scenery would probably be in the best interest of both parties.