Let’s take a moment when we pause from celebrating the last two Mets wins to evaluate the performance of POBO David Stearns. While no one challenges his professionalism nor his ability to drive a team in the right direction, his July acquisitions and the injuries have made some people quietly whisper about how he zigged when he should have zagged.
Ryan Helsey
There are times when you acquire someone for your team who has such a solid history of stellar productivity that it’s considered a no brainer that bringing him in house was the right move to make. A perusal of Ryan Helsey’s numbers during his St. Louis career certainly qualified him to be regarded that way.
However, coming to New York is the kind of nightmare no one saw coming. Since joining the Mets at the end of July he is pitching to a .354 batting average against, his strikeout to walk ration dipped to a hair over 2:1 and his ERA while wearing orange and blue is 10.29. Bear in mind this is not a mere bad couple of days. He’s been in 17 games already.
Gregory Soto
The first of those July new faces was reliever Gregory Soto. A glance at his career numbers showed he was a “meh” kind of relief pitcher after some earlier dominance. His best ever season was his final year with the Tigers in 2022 when he was an All Star for the second straight year and finished with 30 saves to go along with a respectable 3.28 ERA.
Since then he’s floated between the Phillies, Orioles and Mets where he was no longer entrusted to be a closer. His performance was acceptable at best with a 4.40 ERA overall from 2023 through 2025. He walks too many people and since arriving in New York he actually dipped a bit lower with a 4.50 ERA. He’s not likely going to be a sure fire loser on the mound but he’s not the kind of arm around whom you’d want to build a pen for the future when his free agency arrives at year’s end.
Cedric Mullins
It was clear from early 2025 the Mets were in desperate need to enhance what they got out of the center field position. First was the all glove and limited bat Jose Siri who went down with a broken leg. Then there was familiar backup player Tyrone Taylor who himself is also on the IL now. It was time for the Mets to find someone healthy and capable to stabilize this seeming black hole on the field.
Given the way the team was struggling with offense it seemed that seeking a career .248 hitter who has been spiralling downhill since his All Star season of 2021. With the Orioles this year he was hitting just .220 and with the Mets only .190. For Baltimore over 91 games he had 15 HRs. For the Mets over 35 games he has just 2. This move was puzzling at first and looks worse ever since it happened.
Tyler Rogers
Perhaps the only gold star Stearns has earned for his very late changes to the roster in July was middle reliever Tyler Rogers. Between his funky delivery and strong control he has built a solid career with the Giants while sporting a career ERA of just 2.76. As a 28 year old rookie in 2019 no one could have predicted this kind of dominance.
With the Mets he started off as badly as some of the previous pair of pitchers but he’s quickly righted his ship. Over 21 games for the Mets he has a 2.14 ERA with the only blip on his record being a high .275 batting average against.
Considering how awful the Mets pen has been all year and how empty is will be in 2026 he is likely the only one of this quarter worth considering as a free agent since he delivers quality and thus far only earns $5.25 million.
Going into his age 35 season as a free agent he might get a bump but it won’t be a very long term deal as clubs hedge on how long he will remain as good as he has been.
Helsley has thrown 2 scoreless innings in his last two outings. No strikeouts in those2 innings is a puzzle, but he may be righting his ship just in time.
ReplyDeleteSoto is wild. He hopefully will not implode down the stretch.
I like Rogers, but he will pitch to a lot of contact.
The hitters need to not slumber over the next 9 games. I believe the core hitters, and the Baby Mets starters, will get it done.
Mullins has underperformed. Maybe over the final games, that will change.
For all four guys, that’s why report cards are officially due after game # 162.
I agree that the Rogers deal is helping the Mets this season. The rest are ka ka
ReplyDeleteThe Rogers deal for Butto, Gilbert, and Tidwell will only be able to be evaluated at the end of next season
Reese, I couldn't agree more. I have been saying this from the get-go. These trades were horrendous. Stearns was fleeced on all 4 trades. They did nothing to help this team get better. In fact it made it worse.
ReplyDeleteEven Taylor who looks good on paper is pitching to a .275 BA. You cannot bring him in in the middle of an inning. So, he can only start an inning.
I know I typically go against the gain on many issues, but I am not a proponent of deadline trades. Other than Cespedes, I can't remember another trade working. Remember Cespedes was like a 4th choice. We were very luck with that one.
Over 90% of these trades fail because it takes time for the player to adjust to a new team or new league. They gave up 11 prospects for these stiffs and they all pretty much suck. And they will all be gone next year with nothing to show for it.
Even with Taylor he gave up way too much. I would rather have had Gilbert in CF and Butto for the next few years. Probably could have converted Tidwell to a useful bullpen piece.
Someone in the front office needs to explain WHY Jett didn't play more CF and by the way the same with Acuna. With a 2 game lead and ending up playing the fish is precarious at best and bottom line we should not be in this position David but we all know he's here for the long haul but if we don't make it does that push Stevie over the edge?
ReplyDeleteMullins is a bust. Need to move on from him at the end of the season. I still believe Helsley will turn it around - he still has great stuff and does not seem to have lost any velocity. His problems are repairable and he will be valuable in the end.
ReplyDeletePaul, all 4 will be gone at years end. We shouldn't waste our breath on this Hensley, even with 2 scoreless innings continues to get hit hard. Mullins is barely playable, but we have no choice.
ReplyDeleteI was kind of surprised at how small Mullins is when the Mets made the trade. He’s only 5’8”.
ReplyDeleteReminded me of when the Mets acquired Don Bosch from the Pirates after the 1966 season. He was heralded by the papers and the Mets hype machine as the next superstar who mimicked Willie Mays in the outfield. When he arrived in spring training training manager Wes Westrum saw the 5’10” Bosch and famously remarked “They sent me a midget”.
Bosch batted .140 in 1967 and .164 for his career.