From acquiring Yoenis Cespedes to trading Pete Crow-Armstrong, these are the moves the Mets have made as buyers in July.
It’s David Stearns’ time to shine. With his team sitting 0.5 games back of the Phillies for first place in the N.L. East and hanging onto the second N.L. Wild Card spot, the Mets are poised to be buyers at the trade deadline for a second consecutive year. As the deadline looms ten days away, let’s look back at when the Mets have bought over the course of the past decade to remember the deals that worked, the deals that failed, and the deals that are still playing out on the field.
2015
Acquired: Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard, Yoenis Cespedes,
Dealt: John Gant, Rob Whalen, Casey Meisner, Michael Fulmer, Luis Cessa
It’s hard to think of a better, more balanced quartet to acquire at the trade deadline than Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard, and Yoenis Cespedes — and that’s not just because we’re looking through N.L. Championship-colored glasses. The 2015 Mets were overflowing with young starting pitching, had one of the game’s elite closers in Jeurys Familia, and a week before the deadline had hit the eighth-fewest homers in MLB. The strategy was naturally to trade young, controllable minor-league arms for offensive thump and bullpen reinforcement, and it worked like a charm. Uribe and Johnson platooned until David Wright was ready to return from injury, Clippard provided a bridge from each young ace to Familia, and Cespedes hit 17 homers in 54 games.
The Cespedes trade is also the rare example of a true win-win deal. Michael Fulmer, the 2016 Rookie of the Year and a 2017 All-Star, actually accumulated more bWAR with the Tigers (12.2) than Cespedes did with the Mets (7.5). Meanwhile, Fulmer was under team control through 2022, while the Mets spent almost $100M retaining an oft-injured Cespedes through 2020. But that’s the beauty of buying and selling at the deadline: if executed well, one path offers short-term reward, while the other provides long-term value.
2016
Acquired: Jay Bruce, Jonathon Niese
Dealt: Dilson Herrera, Max Wotell, Antonio Bastardo
This deadline would have been remembered quite differently if the Mets had followed through on including Brandon Nimmo rather than Dilson Herrera as the centerpiece of the Jay Bruce deal. Herrera, a 22-year-old top prospect, was never able to find success in the majors, while Nimmo currently has the 14th-highest career bWAR of any Met in history. Despite his overlooked 2017 campaign, Jay Bruce’s time with the Mets was defined by his struggles in the second-half of 2016, when he was expected to be a mddle-of-the-order slugger and instead recorded a .685 OPS. The Jon Niese reunion also did not go swimmingly, as the long-time Mets lefty allowed 14 earned runs in 11.0 IP.
The Mets turned it on in the final weeks of the season, going 24-12 to earn the top N.L. Wild Card spot, but the key factors in their surge were a raking Asdrubal Cabrera, a healthy Yoenis Cespedes, and revelatory rookie performances from Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman. The July acquisition which ultimately had the biggest impact on the 2016 Mets was the re-signing of José Reyes, who hit 8 homers and stole 9 bases in 60 games.
2019
Acquired: Marcus Stroman, Austin Bossart
Dealt: Anthony Kay, Simeon Woods-Richardson, Jason Vargas
Though the Mets ended up falling 3.0 games short of a playoff spot in 2019, the trade to acquire Marcus Stroman for Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson looks better in hindsight — much like the controversial Robinson Canó and Edwin Díaz deal the offseason prior. Then-GM Brodie Van Wagenen had little issue clearing out the Mets’ first-round draft picks for high-end major league talent, whether sending Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn to Seattle or Kay to Toronto. The deadline deal drew criticism for seeming reactionary and short-sighted, especially since when they acquired Stroman on July 28, the Mets were 6.0 games out of the second wild card spot with four other N.L. teams ahead of them.
Stroman posted a 3.77 ERA in 11 starts for the Mets in 2019. After opting out of the 2020 season, he signed a qualifying offer and put up a 133 ERA+ in 179.0 IP in 2021. Since 2020, only one other Mets pitcher has posted an ERA+ above 115 with at least 150 IP: Kodai Senga in 2023. Kay never found his footing in the majors, eventually making his way back to the Mets for three games in 2023 before signing with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan. Simeon Woods-Richardson, a second-round pick who was just 18 years old at the time of the trade, has found success recently as a 24-year-old starter with the Minnesota Twins. Over his past six starts, Woods-Richardson has a 1.47 ERA, striking out 23 and walking 11. While still unproven, if Woods-Richardson’s recent performance at the major league level continues, he could force this to be yet another trade Mets fans regret years down the road.
2021
Acquired: Carlos Rincon, Rich Hill, Mark Payton, Javier Baez, Trevor Williams
Dealt: Billy McKinney, Tommy Hunter, Matt Dyer, Pete Crow-Armstrong
It’s not Zack Scott’s fault for buying at the trade deadline. When the Mets traded for Javier Báez on July 30, they had a 4.0 game lead in the N.L. East, and had been in sole possession of first place since May 9. It’s not Javier Báez’s fault that the Mets completely collapsed, going 22-37 from that point on. The Cubs cornerstone hit .299/.371/.515 in his two months as a Met, putting up a positive OAA and a career-best 7.0% BB rate. The simple reason the fateful 2021 deal stings in retrospect is because Pete Crow-Armstrong could have been the Mets’ first N.L. MVP. He’s currently the frontrunner for the award in 2025, on pace for a 40/40 season with over 9.0 bWAR. While Báez hasn’t been in orange and blue for four years, Crow-Armstrong will be under Cubs control through 2030.
As Scott would remind us, Báez wasn’t the only player the Mets received from the Cubs, as Trevor Williams threw the sixth-most innings and totaled the 14th-most bWAR on the 2022 Mets team. Still, it’s a trade that represents the worst-case scenario when buying at the deadline, and has led to a safer approach from the organization in the years since. As Jon Heyman of the New York Post recently reported, the Mets are not looking to deal top prospects RHP Nolan McLean, RHP Jonah Tong, or SS/OF Jett Williams this July.
2022
Acquired: Daniel Vogelbach, Michael Perez, Tyler Naquin, Phillip Diehl, Mychal Givens, Darin Ruf
Dealt: Colin Holderman, Hector Rodriguez, Jose Acuna, Saul Gonzalez, J.D. Davis, Thomas Szapucki, Carson Seymour, Nick Zwack
The 2022 Mets didn’t have many holes to fill in their roster. At the deadline, their record was 65-38 — best in the N.L. East, second-best in the N.L., and fourth-best in baseball. They had scored the fifth-most runs in MLB while allowing the fourth-fewest, a formula that framed them as a World Series frontrunner. They also had Jacob deGrom set to return from the Injured List before the end of the regular season, which would prove a more substantive addition than most teams could muster via trade.
The Mets looked to fine-tune their offense, adding Daniel Vogelbach, Tyler Naquin, and Darin Ruf. While Vogelbach delivered, putting up an .830 OPS in the middle of the lineup, Naquin and Ruf produced a combined -1.4 bWAR. J.D. Davis, who was included along with minor leaguers Szapucki, Seymour, and Zwack in the trade for Ruf, would have been particularly good to keep, as the versatile right-hander slugged .496 for the remainder of the season. Davis was also under team control for 2023, when he clubbed 18 homers — a mark which would have ranked fifth-highest on the Mets that season.
Colin Holderman, traded for Vogelbach, is still a reliever in Pittsburgh, where he posted a 3.52 ERA in 107.1 innings across 2022 and 2023. Hector Rodriguez, included in the trade for Taylor Naquin, is currently the Reds’ No. 11 prospect, according to MLB.com.
2024
Acquired: Ryne Stanek, Jesse Winker, Nicolas Carreno, Tyler Zuber, Huascar Brazobán, Paul Blackburn
Dealt: Rhylan Thomas, Tyler Stuart, Josh Walker, Paul Gervase, Wilfredo Lara, Kade Morris
It’s difficult to evaluate a deadline that played out just a year ago, as we can’t predict what will become of the minor leaguers the Mets dealt away, but David Stearns certainly succeeded at bringing in high-impact major league talent. Save for one ugly outing in Seattle, Ryne Stanek was a reliable bullpen piece, striking out 23 batters in 16.1 IP and earning a win in the Mets’ final postseason victory against the Dodgers. Jesse Winker went on a postseason tear, hitting .318/.531/.636 including a monstrous home run off Aaron Nola in Game 3 of the NLDS at Citi Field. Meanwhile, Huascar Brazobán has made his presence felt this season, throwing the sixth-most innings (48.1) of any Met so far in 2025.
If any trade deadline can serve as a roadmap for the Mets in 2025, it’s last year’s, when the organization managed to acquire meaningful major-league pieces without parting with any of their Top 15 prospects. While the price might be slightly higher this July as the Mets look to be buyers once again, the principle will remain the same: bolster the roster for this year’s playoff run, but don’t sacrifice another future superstar.