The Mets’ last hope to win a long-shot playoff spot ended with the most expensive team in baseball history selling their best player to the low-payroll, lower-revenue Marlins.
You read that right.
The Mets, the team with the almost $400 million payroll, surrendered their season goal and playoff aspirations with a trade to send star closer David Robertson to the small-market Marlins.
We can’t blame the Mets’ honchos, led by general manager Billy Eppler, for executing the deal.
The Mets received two prospects ranked within the Marlins’ top 21 prospects, infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez, which seems like a pretty fair return under normal circumstances.
The move may well turn out to be the most prudent thing the Mets did this year.
But right now, it feels like a stab to the heart and a certain season-ender.
Robertson was a savior in the pen as the replacement for injured star closer Edwin Diaz, usually taking the ninth inning, often taking on the opposition’s best hitters, and almost always succeeding.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor put a good face on the season-killing trade afterward, but the reality is that the Mets’ hopes for the 2023 season ended by surrendering the most vital player on their 26-man roster.
“I’m still very optimistic that we have an amazing chance for the playoffs, for getting to the dance,” Lindor said on SNY shortly after the deal.
We don’t blame Lindor for saying that, as no Met worth his contract is going to admit it’s over as far as the competition for the World Series trophy.
Lindor said they weren’t even calling it a sale in the clubhouse, which tells you they are doing their best to make it sound like something it isn’t.
Of course, the deal marks the beginning of the Mets’ sale, and very likely the best part of the sale, since Robertson is the team’s one veteran who is actually outperforming his salary.
Robertson also was the most consistently excellent performer on the Mets, and easily the most vital player.
The Mets’ bullpen is ranked around 20th overall, and that’s with Robertson, who was one of the best relievers this season and should have been the team’s All-Star.
Who knows what it will be without him, but it can’t be that good.
“Robertson’s been a rock,” manager Buck Showalter said in the press conference after the game.
That was accurate, but also an interesting choice of words, since the Mets may well sink without Robertson.
They certainly won’t compete for a playoff spot, which clinches this season as one of the most disappointing in the history of this often star-crossed club.
No matter what they want to call it, this is a sale, and they’ve raised the white flag.
The question now of course is no longer, “Can they win enough games to make the playoffs?” but rather “Who’s next?”
It could be Tommy Pham and Mark Canha, who are having solid seasons and look like tradeable veterans, though they won’t bring this sort of return.
The bigger question is whether the Cooperstown-bound Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer might go, and the answer is that it’s a complicated query.
Everything to know about the Mets' historic sell-off
After a disappointing season, the Mets are selling off their historically expensive roster.
The Amazins dealt out some big name players before the MLB trade deadline — including now-former co-aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
Below are the players the Mets have shipped out:
Tommy Pham
The Mets traded the outfielder minutes before the 6 p.m. deadline to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Arizona is sending back 17-year shortstop Jeremy Rodriguez, who has a .751 OPS rookie ball this season.
Justin Verlander
The Mets traded out Verlander, a sure-fire Hall of Fame pitcher, back to his former team, the Houston Astros.
The Amazins reportedly will receive top Astros prospect Drew Gilbert, a Double-A outfielder, and 20-year-old outfielder Ryan Clifford, who owns a .919 OPS through 83 games in Low- and High-A this year.
Max Scherzer
Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young winner that was a co-ace with Verlander, was sold off to the Texas Rangers.
The Mets landed one of the Rangers’ top prospects, Double-A infielder Luisangel Acuña, brother of Braves star Ronald Acuña.
Mark Canha
The veteran outfielder was dealt to the Brewers for Justin Jarvis, a promising 23-year-old pitcher that was ranked No. 12 in the Brewers’ farm system.
David Robertson
The Mets traded closer David Robertson to the Miami Marlins, a move that started off the club’s deadline dismantle.
In exchange for Robertson, who is having another terrific season, the Mets received a pair of minor leaguers, infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez, from Miami.
Both have full no-trade capability, so even if the Mets find decent deals for the all-time duo, there’s no guarantee they will be dealt.
If they do deal with them, they’d also have to rebuild their rotation for 2024.
Rival executives also say they’d have to significantly pay down their bookend $43.33 million salaries to have a chance to receive a respectable return for either star, with Verlander being the more popular on the market since he has pitched better lately.
The deal was a definite downer.
But one thing we can say positively about the trade is that the return was solid.
Daniel Alvarez-Montes, who covers the Marlins, said Hernandez “could be a great catcher — a switch hitter, a cannon for an arm, very mature,” and Vargas has “well-above-average bat-to-ball skills, solid defense, and a good runner.”
That’s all nice. But the reality right now is that the Mets are planning for the future because the present has now officially been conceded to be a failure.