Mets fulfilled trade deadline needs without losing top prospects

The Mets transformed their bullpen and added a starting center fielder without touching those who MLB Pipeline regards as their seven best prospects.

The trade deadline became a positive reflection on the depth of the club’s farm system, which could be used to improve the team — with four useful, if all impending free agent, players — without losing the higher-upside prospects.

“I think the story of this deadline for us is really an amateur-talent-acquisition and player-development story,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said over Zoom after Thursday’s deadline. “Our amateur talent acquisition departments and our player-development group put us in position to be able to have this type of deadline — where we’re able to go out, acquire players that we think are really going to help us at the major league level, and not touch some really high-upside players at the top of our system.”

Their best minor leaguers off-loaded, according to MLB Pipeline’s rankings before the trades began, were infielder Jesus Baez (No. 8), righty Blade Tidwell (10), outfielder Drew Gilbert (12) and righties Nate Dohm (16), Anthony Nunez (18) and Wellington Aracena (19). Traded from outside their top 30 were righties Raimon Gómez, Chandler Marsh, Frank Ellisalt and Cameron Foster, along with major league reliever Jose Buttó.

The gems of the farm system remain — such as starting pitchers Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, plus high-upside bats such as Jett Williams, Carson Benge, Jacob Reimer and Ryan Clifford.

Among the above group, only Tong (a seventh-round pick) was selected outside the top four rounds of the draft.

The Mets held on to the prospects they value most highly in part because they have been able to successfully develop others.

Thursday’s trade that landed Cedric Mullins was particularly illustrative.

For a good glove and OK outfield bat, the Mets lost Nunez, who was discovered last year as a free agent who had flamed out with the Padres as a hitter, transitioned to a reliever at the University of Tampa then was plucked by the Mets, with whom he shot up to Double-A Binghamton; Gomez, a huge but raw arm who was signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2021; and Marsh, a righty who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Georgia last year.

“Enormous credit to [the development and acquisition departments] to be able to bring that type of talent into the organization,” Stearns said, “and then once they’re in the organization, to help them get better.”

The notable exceptions were Gilbert (an Astros first-round pick in 2022 who came over in the Justin Verlander deal) and Tidwell (a 2022 second-round pick), who were used to acquire Tyler Rogers from the Giants.

Gilbert, a center fielder, was having a nice season at Triple-A Syracuse but likely was lower on the outfielder-prospect depth chart than Benge and Williams.

Tidwell debuted this season with better stuff than results but is worse-regarded than Sproat, McLean and Tong.

“There’s no question they’re good players, and proximity to the major leagues certainly factors into these types of deals,” Stearns said of the pair. “And we believe we traded a number of players who are going to play on TV.

“We were in a position where we thought that these deals made sense, giving up good players to get players who maybe can help us in a more concentrated fashion right now.”