That Adam Smith - Weaver for Stafura: Did David Stearns Get His Man?

Stearns gets his guy: Mets trade Luke Weaver + Cash for Sammy Stafura

Amidst the train wreck that is the 2026 Mets season, the bullpen has been by far their greatest strength. And in that bullpen, no one had been better than Luke Weaver.

In 44 innings this season, which included a 28.1 inning scoreless streak Weaver gave up just 25 hits, 11 walks, and 9 earned runs for a 1.84 ERA.

Despite not being a closer, Weaver was not only the Mets’ best reliever, but one of the best relievers in the game all season.  And while much of the rest of the ‘pen was being sold off for parts, Weaver was under control for 2027.

And yet, the Mets traded Weaver as part of their 2026 teardown - while paying down a significant portion of his contract for both this year and next - to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for 21 year-old shortstop and self-proclaimed “one of the biggest Mets fans ever” Sammy Stufara.

It’s a lot to give up. This was more than just the best guy available. The Mets had been rumored all week to be interested in Stafura, but to give up Weaver while covering most of his salary going forward, Stafura was clearly a player that Stearns had identified and targeted.

Stafura is considered a plus-plus defender at shortstop with a 60-grade arm and elite or near-elite speed, giving him a very high floor.  If there were questions about Stafuro’s ceiling, it was whether he would get to the power that his tools hinted at, and whether his game might be hampered by a bit too much swing and miss.

This season - or, more specifically, the past six weeks - seems to have answered the power question in a big way, and while he’s not a sure thing yet, if Stafura can cut down a little bit on the whiff, his ceiling is very high indeed. 

Sammy Stafura grew up a huge Mets fan in Cortland Manor NY and was drafted in the second round of the 2023 draft by the Cincinnati Reds out of Panas HS. Keith Law went out of his way to laud the Reds for the pick at the time, calling Stafuro “a first round talent.”

He got a cup of coffee in Rookie Ball at  the end of the 2023 season, and returned there to start 2024 at 19 years old. Over his first 69 AB’s in Rookie ball, he hit .346/.449/.582/1.031 with 7 XBH and 4SB. He was immediately promoted to Daytona (A) in the Florida State League.

In 290 AB’s at Daytona, where he was 2 years younger than league average, Stafuro hit .255/.374/.379 for a .754 OPS and stole 27 of 32 bases.

Stafura opened 2025 as a 20 year-old - still young for the league - back in Daytona, where he hit .261/.392/.410 in 402 AB’s for an .801 OPS, with 18 2B, 9 3B, and just 5 HR, with 63 BB and 97 K.

Then, at the 2025 trade deadline, the Reds traded Stafura to the Pirates who assigned him to their A-ball affiliate at Bradenton, an assignment that lasted just four games before a promotion to A+ Greensboro of the South Atlantic League.

At Greensboro, he struggled over the season's last 26 games to the tune of a .512 OPS in 110 AB’s. 

In January of 2026, Stafura partially tore the UCL in his throwing arm, delaying his spring training.  His season got off to a rough start at the plate in Greensboro, and then in May, he strained a hamstring, missing 3 weeks. He came back for 8 games of rehab in A-ball and returned to Greensboro on June 9th.  

From the start of this season until June 13th, over 30 games, Stafura was hitting .192/.319/.303 for a .522 OPS.  But then something clicked.

Starting on June 14th, Sammy Stafura went on a tear, going 13 for 38 for a .342 BA for the rest of the month. And then July happened.

In July of this season, Sammy Stafura went 29 for 81 (.358) with 14 HR in 18 games, bringing his season A+ stat line to .301/.365/.656/1.021, with 19 HR, 7 2B, 1 3B over 211 AB’s, successful on 16 of 17 stolen base attempts. 

Now, it must be said that Greensboro is a launching pad, and 13 of his 19 A+ HR’s this year have come at home. But he’s also OPS’d .899 on the road.  

On the July 25th episode of the Bucs On Deck podcast,  Anthony Murphy who closely follows the Pirates system said, “It’s been ridiculous. I’ve seen some hot streaks of guys who’ve come through Greensboro, but this is by far one of the most insane runs I’ve seen for a minor league player." 

 

A once in a lifetime hot streak?  Maybe. But Stafuro doesn’t think so.

“Mentally, I’m believing that I’m the best player on the field and acting like that every single day,” Stafura told MLB News. “I think that’s been one of the biggest parts of this year is just believing that I am the person I am, and I’ve started acting like it the past month, and it’s been showing pretty well.”

 

Stafura’s not a finished product.  He’s struck out around 30% of his AB’s in A+ this year, and his whiff rate is over 30% as well.  But while he needs to cut back on his swing and miss, he’s hitting the ball often and hard.  And he’s still only 21.

Stafura was listed as the Mets’ #11 prospect by MLB post-deadline, but others, including Joe Demayo, teased on his deadline edition Mets’d Up podcast that he’d have him significantly higher than that in his updated rankings later this week.

Sammy Stafura is already seen by most evaluators as a future top defensive SS in baseball with elite speed and base stealing ability.  His background had hinted at power, and now that’s showing as well.  

Based on those attributes alone, even if he doesn't cut down on the swing and miss, Stafura is almost certainly a major league player. But if he can reign that in - even if it means dialing back a bit on the absurd HR power that has showed itself over the past 6 weeks - David Stearns may have just traded a year of Luke Weaver (along with a reported $8 million in cash) for Francisco Lindor’s heir apparent at shortstop, and added another cornerstone piece to to the Mets’ exciting young core.

One of the biggest Mets fans ever. How cool is that.

MACK - Let’s Get To Know – Jefferson Rojas

 

Jefferson Rojas is a 21-year-old Dominican professional baseball infielder (primarily shortstop and second baseman; also plays third) who was a top prospect in the Chicago Cubs organization until a trade to the Mets on August 3, 2026.

Born April 25, 2005, in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Bats and throws right-handed; listed at about 5'11", 150 lbs.

Signed with the Cubs on January 15, 2022, as a 16-year-old international free agent (36th-ranked that year) for a reported $1 million bonus.

His father, Ricardo Rojas (a former minor leaguer in the Cleveland organization), left a conventional job to focus on developing Jefferson’s talent after noticing his ability as a preteen.

Rojas has been aggressively promoted and often among the youngest players at each level:

2022 (DSL Cubs): .303/.391/.407 with 1 HR and 15 SB in 45 games.

2023 (primarily Single-A Myrtle Beach): Solid production with 7 HR and 13 SB.

2024 (High-A South Bend): Adjusted with more modest numbers.

2025: Strong at High-A (.278/.379/.492 with 11 HR and solid steals in part of the year), then struggled after a midseason promotion to Double-A Knoxville (.164/.279/.205 in 39 games as one of the youngest players there).

2026 (Double-A Knoxville Smokies): Career-best power year. Through roughly 91 games: .270/.339/.461 (about .800 OPS) with 15 HR, 57 RBI, and 17 SB. He became the first Cubs minor leaguer that season to reach 15 homers and 15 steals, including a game-winning extra-innings homer in late July. He ranked as the Cubs’ No. 1 or No. 2 prospect and around No. 63–80 overall on MLB Pipeline lists at points during the year.

He has shown a developing hit tool, growing power (especially in 2026), speed, and defensive versatility across the infield.

Scouts note maturity beyond his age, though questions remain about whether he sticks long-term at shortstop (potentially shifting toward second or third) and consistency against higher-level pitching.

 Rojas ranked as the Cubs’ No. 2 prospect and a Top 100 overall prospect at the time of the reports.

Steve Sica - Evaluating the Mets Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is officially behind us, and the Mets were one of the busiest teams during these last few days.

Plenty of new prospects are joining the MiLB ranks from St. Lucie to Syracuse, and now former Mets are on their way to contenders to try to help them go deep into October. Let's take a look at how the Mets did with their haul of prospects.

1. 

Mets get: INF Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani 

Twins get: A.J. Minter

Late on Thursday night, the Mets started the deadline strong when they parted with veteran reliever A.J. Minter and brought in Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani.

This was a solid haul for Minter and had a bit of Mets lore attached to it, with Bruin being the son of 2000 NL Champion and fan favorite Benny Agbayani. He was also the better half of the pair of prospects that came over. Now ranked as the 29th best prospect in the Met system per Pipeline, Agbayani had a small sample size in Low-A before injuries kept him out most of the season. 

In ten games with Fort Myers, he went 11-for-41 with three doubles, six RBIs, nine walks, and just three strikeouts. He's only 19 years old, so there's plenty of time to develop him.

While not ranked in the top-30, Amick is a great get. He slugged 23 home runs with Double-A Wichita and already cranked out his first home run with Binghamton over the weekend. He has high power but high strikeout numbers, very Ryan Clifford-like. Still, his raw power is intriguing, and it'll be entertaining watching him progress through the system.

Trade grade: B-

2. 

Mets get: OF Aidan Smith, 2B Emilien Pitre and RHP Gary Gill Hill

Rays get: Freddy Peralta

You were never going to get back the same return as the Mets gave up for Peralta over the winter, and unfortunately, Peralta did himself and the Mets no favors by having the worst year of his career to this point. 

Still, the Mets came away from this trade with a decent haul. Outfielder Aiden Smith is the headline prospect in this deal, ranking as he sits as the Mets' 14th-best prospect. He's had a bit of a rough season in High-A, batting just .215, with a .693 OPS. There's some potential here, though. He was drafted in the 4th round back in 2023 and, in 2024, batted .288 with an OPS of .874 in Low-A.

The prospect I'm most excited about in this deal is Emilien Pitre, currently ranked as the 17th-best Met prospect. He has fantastic contact numbers and plate discipline, batting .323 with 30 walks to 17 strikeouts and an OPS of .943. He's very much like the type of hitters the Mets are developing in Carson Benge and A.J Ewing. Get on base, minimize strikeouts, a little speed, and work up counts. 

Gary Gill Hill comes in at the 19th-ranked prospect in the Mets system, and while his 4.43 ERA in Double-A isn't anything to brag about, his K/BB ratio is. In 81 innings, he's struck out 61 batters while walking just 14.

Trade grade: B

3. 

Mets get: RHP Gabe Davis and RHP Zach Franklin 

White Sox get: Huascar Brazoban

A fairly uneventful trade. Brazoban is 37, and while he's been having a great season this year, he was a disaster in 2024 and streaky in 2025. I think some fans overvalued him, and this return was met with a lot of disappointment. For what it is, it's a fair trade on both sides.

Zach Franklin will likely find himself in Queens before the end of summer, and Gabe Davis, standing at 6'9 is an imposing presence on the mound that reminds me of fellow tall reliever, 6'5 Dylan Ross. While his 8.31 ERA in Double-A is alarming, he did have a 2.63 ERA in High-A across 27 innings of work. The adjustment between those two levels is the hardest, so patience might be key in his development.

Trade grade: C

4.

Mets get: RHP Luke Gabrysh and OF John Spikerman

Phillies get: Brooks Raley

This trade was a bit of a surprise considering it's within their division, and also disappointing. 

When you trade a key player to a hated division rival that'll help them potentially win a World Series, you better be getting a decent return of prospects. The Mets failed to do that in this case. I get that 38-year-old Brooks Raley doesn't come with a lot of leverage, but in a market that always values relievers, I feel like the Mets could've gotten more.

Luke Gabrysh isn't ranked and has a 5+ ERA in High-A. Meanwhile, John Spikerman comes in as the Mets 28th ranked prospect. He is a decent hitter with a .260 average and 18 stolen bases. He walked 26 times to 30 strikeouts, so he's another guy who fits into the Mets system.

However, Raley had a sub-two ERA and was easily one of the best relievers on the market. If the Mets couldn't squeeze more out of the Phillies for him, they were better off trading him elsewhere. The market was certainly active for him. Even if the return was similar to what you got from the Phillies, at least you're not giving him up for cheap to your arch-rival.

Trade grade: D

5.

Mets get: SS Sammy Stafura

Pirates get: Luke Weaver

Initially, this trade seemed pretty light considering Luke Weaver isn't just a top reliever but also has another year of control in 2027. 

Nothing against Sammy Stafura as he slots in as the 11th-ranked prospect in the Mets system. A local product out of Cortlandt, NY, he put up excellent numbers with High-A Greensboro. In 47 games, he batted .301 with an OPS of 1.021, slugged 19 home runs, 51 RBIs, and stole 16 bases. He's still only 21-years-old and was a second-round draft pick in 2023. Truly, a great addition to the Met farm system.

Despite all that, when the news broke, you couldn't help but look for his name and another prospect coming back in return; even if it was an unranked guy, Weaver was seen as the best available bullpen arm here, and to sell him off without a top-100 prospect or multiple prospects seemed like a steal for Pittsburgh.

When it came out that the Mets were on the hook for over half of Weaver's contract next year too, this trade went from being alright to just plain dumb. If you're going to be paying $7.5 million to a guy who isn't even on your roster next year, you should be getting a little more than one High-A prospect in return. On the field and off the field, this was a disappointing trade for the Mets as the Pirates lived up to their name and robbed Stearns and the Mets' ship.

Trade grade: D-

6. 

Mets get: 3B Jefferson Rojas

Cubs get: Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor

The Mets ended the deadline on a high note, getting back a top-100 prospect in Jefferson Rojas. He becomes the Mets' best prospect and has a great set of tools in power, speed, and contact. 

At just 21 years old, he's in his first full season of Double-A ball, putting up an OPS of .800 with 15 home runs, 57 RBIs, 19 doubles, and 17 steals. He brings a jolt of excitement into a system that fell off hard this summer when they graduated Carson Benge, A.J Ewing, and Nolan McLean. He also fills a need at third base, a position the Mets have lacked depth in for years at the Major League and MiLB level.

To get this type of return for Clay Holmes, who hasn't started an MLB game since mid-May, and Tyrone Taylor, a serviceable outfield bat, I have to hand it to Stearns here. He might've bombed on the Weaver deal, but ultimately brings back a marquee prospect out of the 2026 fire sale.

Trade grade: A

MACK - OPEN THREAD - CLAY HOLMES/TYRONE TAYLOR TRADE

 

The New York Mets traded OF Tyrone Taylor and SP Clay Holmes, to the Chicago Cubs, for their #2 prospect, 3B/SS/2B Jefferson Rojas.

Rojas is only 21/years old and is already excelling at the AA level.

2026 - AA - 345-AB, 64-K, 35-BB, 15-HR, 57-RBI

.270/.339/.461/.799

Cautious Optimist -- A New Day Dawning

 

You may not believe it, but I did not have white hair before the current baseball season began.  Golf is all I have left to carry me through the summer and into the Fall, when I can be entertained/depressed by the Jets. 

If I had only grown up privileged or at least with different sports alliances.  I sometimes wonder whether it would have made a difference, and if so, in which direction.

After all, there is something noble, if not rewarding, about supporting the misfortunate and misunderstood.

Alas, the Jets and Mets are both owned by billionaires so they are hardly among the downtrodden and misfortunate.  Misunderstood?  I don't think so.  We know all too well what both teams are, or at least have been, and, for all I know, may well continue to be.

But for some reason that I am not sure that I can explain,  I truly believe that today (or yesterday) marked the first day in the rest of my life aa a Mets fan.

As of right now, It's a New Day Dawning in Metsland, and I feel fine

Of course I know that statement is both obvious and banal, but as a philosopher by trade I have nothing against either.

But I mean for it to convey not merely a note of genuine optimism, but a sea change.  For as I see it, while not everything about the Mets has changed as of today, and while the immediate future remains murky at best, the Mets have not just changed course, they have taken the first serious steps along the pathway to sustained success that both RVH and I, each in our own way, mistakenly attributed to them during last offseason.

I don't want to speak for him, even if I could, so I will confine my reflections to my own premature assessment of the wisdom of the path they had chosen.

Roughly I understood the Mets to have broken with the past last offseason while setting up an execuable plan to experience success both in the mid term and for years thereafer.

As I saw it 

I understood the Mets to have adopted a several stage approach to ensuring long term success.  The first step was to break cleanly with the past, which they accomplished by jettisoning by trade or free agency, three of the core players that had taken the team deep into the 2024 post season.  The FO determined that the core had gone as far as it could and maintaining it would only prove to be a hurdle to getting on a more promising pathway to success.

I agreed with the overall assessment of the team and both the ceiling of a team constructed around the existing core, and more importantly, the roadblock to getting on a more promising path any further reliance or investment in the core would likely become.

We can disagree about the specific decisions they made in saying goodbye to Alonso, McNeil and Nimmo, but I am hard pressed to believe that many among us thought staying the path with minor adjustments here and there would have been a better overall strategy for success.

Second, the FO also recognized that, no matter what the baseball publications thought of their farm system,  no matter the quantity or quality of prospects within it, the total number of high end talent and its distribution both in position and in readiness to contribute to the majors was nowhere near where it needed to be.  I fully agreed with this assessment.

The approach the FO took to remedy the situation was, in effect to buy time while staying highly competitive.  Buying time would allow the team to draft or trade for additional prospects and to develop those already in the pipeline.  Staying competitive while doing so is all a fan base could reasonably ask for.    And the FO believed, given the talent still on the roster, competitiveness could be assured by filling the gaps of the departed with highly competent replacements on short term contracts, thereby blocking no one among the prospects and minimizing overall investments in FA.

We can agree that the strategy failed miserably, but not completely.  The FO managed to put together one of the best bullpens in the majors at relatively low cost, but was unable to duplicate that performance anywhere else on the field.  

That is an understatement.  In all honesty, most of the trades and signings of position players has been a flat out disaster.  The team has been anything but competitive.  Worse, it was unwatchable and expensive.  It really simply stunk -- in ways few of us thought possible.

But it's worked out for the better -- and here's why

The original plan was never going to work. Two years of a competitive team would not have provided enough time or opportunity to collect talent across the diamond and to find enough of it at different levels to create the necessary time alignment that sustained results require.

Worse, had the team been successful enough this year to compete for a wild card or for a division title, we likely would have been buyers at the deadline forced to trade at least some of our valued prospects for immediate help.  We would have traded the future to some extent for the possibility of immediate success, which can never be the right approach when an organization already has too few genuine prospects unevenly distributed by position and readiness.

The best thing that could have happened did.  We weren't just bad, we were horrendous and loaded with high performing relievers and back-ups on expiring contracts.  We had lots of players we would not have had on the roster had we not adopted the wrong strategy in the first place.  And we had these players at virtually every position teams in competition for the playoffs are looking for!!

What good fortune.  No pretense here of good planning.  Just pure luck.

I don't know how many times during the season I wrote lamenting the absence of quality infielders throughout the upper regions of the farm, or how bereft of talent in the outfield beyond Morabito those same affiliated teams were.  Not to mention, no one within a metaphorical mile of the majors ready to play either 1B or 3B.  And if that weren't enough, I noted that beyond Santucci and Tong, no pitcher in AA or AAA gave any indication that they were ready to compete for a spot in the major league rotation.

I was wrong about that, as Zac Thornton has made clear.  But I was not wrong about anything else I claimed about the state of our farm affiliates.  I was not some sort of savant.  It was obvious to anyone willing to look carefully.  We were counting on the likes of Baty, Vientos and Mauricio to carry us to the wave of infielders three or more years away from competing for a major league roster spot.  That was never a plausible expectation.  Never.

So let's look at what's happened over the past week or so

We don't need much in the outfield and won't for a few years, but through the draft and deadline trades, we have added more potential promising prospects than we would have otherwise -- had the original ill-conceived strategy actually worked out.

But that's nothing compared to what we have accomplished on the infield.  Before the trade deadline period, we had only Voit and Snyder as possibilities before the likes of Pena and Asigen made their way to Queens.  And you know I'm right, because one of the few interesting discussions we all had with one another was whether Ewing should be shifted to 2B.  And those like me who were opposed to this idea were mostly worried about how few outfielders we had on the farm who could conceivably replace Ewing.

Now, we not only don't have to think about moving Ewing to 2B, we think only about how quickly we can move Semien out of 2nd and who among the handful of potential replacement for him will emerge as his replacement and how soon they will do so.

And there's more.  We may be just a year away from having the fastest and among the finest fielding infields and outfields in the majors.

Sure we are still a bit short of power, but if only two or three of the individuals we have drafted or picked up during the deadline make the roster, we will be one of the few speed burning teams with capable power.

As to pitching, we have a ways to go, but we have more arms who have established some area of excellence who will be vying for a spot on the roster in a year or two.  We are exactly where we never could have been had the original plan worked out -- this season.  And we are here only because we put that plan in place and other than succeeding in the bullpen failed everywhere else.  We traded away that bullpen, and changed the dynamics of our farm system entirely.

Truly sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

I'm not an idiot or a Polyanna.  There's more to be done and it's possible that it will all blow up.

I recognize that.  We have three major offseason moves to make.  Two of these involve the pitching staff. We need two veteran top flight starting pitchers.  Maybe only one until the trading deadline next year, but two by the playoffs.  I think there is no choice but to go all in on Skubal.  Bichette's money will come off the books the first year of Skubal's contract.  If Bichette wants a long term contract, he has to do well next year and opt out while he is still young enough to command a 5 year contract.

I am not ready to trade Lindor.  Of course I wish he and Soto had a better relationship, but I view their forms of leadership as complementary, not conflictive. 

We need to put together a new bullpen.  

People who read my posts know that in my book the two most important parts of the team are starting rotation and back of the bullpen.  There is no point in trying to cut corners on either.  The one thing Stearns did very well in Milwaukee and pretty well here, so far, is to put together a bullpen. We have a few potential pieces in the minors, but most of the reliever corps will come from trades and FA.

Skubal will be expensive in both money and years, but you need an ACE if you can find one.  An ACE makes everyone else better.  He reduces costs elsewhere as a result.  

The hardest job of the offseason will be finding creative ways of unloading the disastrous Semien contract, as much of the Senga contract as possible, and if he fails to perform, the remainder of Polanco's.

I know it's crazy to say, but it is only money.  It's much better to be in a position of having money rather than poor performance holding you back.  I'm sure Steve Cohen knows that as well.

Ever the optimist,  I am happy to end on this note.

Onward and Upward

We're on our way HOME.

MACK - GET TO KNOW - P CHAYCE McDERMOTT

 

Chayce McDermott (born August 22, 1998) is a 6'3", 190 lb right-handed pitcher.

He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 4th round (132nd overall) out of Ball State University in 2021, traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 2022, and then dealt to the Dodgers in April 2026.

McDermott has a strong minor-league strikeout track record (over 12 K/9 in many seasons, with 611 career MiLB strikeouts in 435+ IP) but has struggled with command, consistency, and results in limited MLB action. He has a career MLB line of 0-1, 12.00 ERA in 7 appearances (2 starts, 15 IP), with 13 K, 14 BB, and a 2.27 WHIP.

• 2024 (BAL): MLB debut on July 24 vs. MIA (4 IP, 3 ER). One start: 6.75 ERA in 4 IP.
• 2025 (BAL): Mostly relief/spot starts; struggled badly with a 15.58 ERA in 8.2 IP (high walks and homers allowed).
• 2026: Converted to full-time relief. Started the year with BAL (DFA'd after poor Triple-A results), traded to LAD in mid-April. Limited MLB time with LAD (2.1 IP, 7.71 ERA, 1 K in 2 relief appearances as of late June). Optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City; designated for assignment on July 31. In Triple-A (across teams), he posted a 4.55 ERA with strong strikeouts (52 in 31.2 IP) but a 1.55 WHIP.
• 
  

Key traits and development notes: He had Tommy John surgery in college. He worked on mechanics in the 2025-26 offseason (better posture, alignment, energy transfer), which boosted fastball velocity (from ~93 mph to ~96 mph) and improved command somewhat, though control remains an issue (high walk rates historically). He has shown swing-and-miss potential but has been flyball-prone and homer-vulnerable in MLB. 

MACK - OPEN THREAD - LUKE WEAVER TRADE

 

The New York Mets have traded RP Luke Weaver to the Pittsburgh Pirates for SS Sammy Stafura.

Stafura was the Pirates #32 prospect.

SS/2B    6-0    190    RHH    21/years old

2026 - A -  35-AB  16-K 10-BB  1-HR  3-RBI  .143/.375/.257/.632 

          A+ - 186-AB  62-K  20-BB  19-HR  51-RBI  .301/.365/.656/1.021

Goodbye Huascar

The Mets, in the midst of an historic sell-off capping off an otherwise lost season, have sent Relief Pitcher Huascar Brazoban to the Chicago White Sox for minor league RHP’s Gabe Davis (AA) and Zach Franklin (AAA).    

The Mets acquired Brazoban as buyers at the 2024 deadline in exchange for minor league pitcher Wilfredon Lara, who has not made it past A-Ball.  Brazoban, who had pitched to a 2.93 ERA over 30 innings for the Marlins that season, failed to help the Mets during their ‘24 stretch drive, pitching to a 5.14 ERA over 21 innings and did not appear in the post-season.

Since then, however, Brazoban has been quite effective.  In 2025 he thew 63 innings over 52 appearances with a 3.57 ERA, and has been even better this year, throwing 52.3 innings over 46 appearances with a 2.57 ERA and a 1.006 WHIP.

A late-bloomer in baseball terms, Brazoban didn’t throw his first big league pitch until his age 32 season, and now, about to turn 37, heads to the White Sox with three years of control remaining after this one.

That control, and the fact that Brazoban has only gotten better and shows no signs of slowing down due to age, puts a lot of pressure on Stearns and the Mets to have something to show for this deal once the dust clears.

The highest upside, and really the centerpiece return on this deal for the Mets is undoubtedly Gabe Davis.

Davis, a 2025 5th round draft pick out of Oklahoma State University where he was teammates with both Nolan McLean and Carson Benge, is a soon-to-be 23 year-old 6’9, 235 lb RHP with, as you might imagine, great extension down the mound.  He throws a high-90’s,high-spin fastball that can hit triple digits whichBaseball America grades as a 60 (above MLB average) pitch, and features a 60-grade slider as well.  

Davis was limited to just 24 college innings at Oklahoma St. in ‘25 while recovering from a “fishing injury”, which very likely hurt his draft status. But he started his pro career in fine fashion in 2026 at A+ Winston-Salem, throwing 27.1 IP over 8 starts with a 2.63 ERA, 33 K, and a 1.06 WHIP.  Quickly promoted to AA just months into his first pro season, has struggled a bit in Birmingham with an 8.71 ERA in 10 starts, though much of that damage was done over a three start sample.

The Mets will assign Davis to AA Binghamton. 

Baseball America had Gabe Davis as Chicago’s #20 prospect, while MLB Pipeline had him at #18. But a 6’9 230 lb pitcher with less than a season of pro experience, who is already pitching in AA and features with a high-velo, high-spin FB and a 60-grade slider is objectively, a lot to work with and the upside is presumably very high.  And while there is very definitely reliever risk, the Mets will keep him on track as a starter and see what they have, and - with years of control ahead - what they can turn him into.

Zach Franklin, the “other” pitcher in the deal, is a 27 yr-old RH RP who was a 10th round pick by the Sox in 2023. He’s spent the entire 2026 season at AAA Charlotte, where he threw 45 innings over 33 appearances with an impressive 60K and a 1.125 WHIP, while giving up less than 3 BB/9.  His 2026 ERA has been inflated somewhat by 11 HR over those 45 innings, which seems like an outlier for Franklin who gave up just 4 HR over 56 IP last season between AA-AAA.

Franklin features a standard 4-pitch mix featuring a low-90’s FB, splitter, slider, and curveball.  He is Rule 5 Eligible this year so the Mets will need to add him to the 40-man or risk losing him. He has been assigned to Syracuse for now, but we can expect to see him make his big league debut as the ‘26 season winds down. 

For the past two seasons, Huascar Brazoban has been an effective - and at times extremely impressive member of the Mets bullpen. In electing to trade him with three years of control remaining, the organization knows that we are all likely to be watching Brazoban help Chicago through possibly multiple playoff runs in seasons where he could have still been in Queens.

In Franklin, they get a guy who may or may not be a useful reliever for them next season, and while it’s easy to dismiss the chances of a 27 yr-old who has struggled some at AAA, keep in mind that Brazoban didn’t even make his major league debut until he was 32, so you never know.

But it’s Gabe Davis, the behemoth, flamethrowing starter with elite extension and a nasty slider that this front office is dreaming on. He will most likely be the difference between winning and losing this trade in the long run.  With less than a year of pro ball under his belt, and already sitting in AA, the upside is undeniable. It’s the kind of arm an org can dream on as a future mid-to-top of the rotation starter.

Now it’ll be up to the kid, and the Mets pitching development program, and the baseball gods. The Mets are already getting grief from fans and analysts for this still-ongoing deadline. And dealing away Brazoban and all of that control is a big risk. But if the giant kid with the live arm and two 60-grade pitches fulfills his potential, this could, in the end, turn out to be an 80-grade trade for the Mets.    

MACK - OPEN THREAD - BEN RORTVEDT TRADE

 

The New York Mets traded catcher Ben Rortvedt, to the Los Angeles Dodgers, for pitcher Tariq Skubal.

No?

Oh... err... I meant, pitcher Chayce McDermott.

2026 MLB - 0-WAR 0-0 7.71

        AAA - 27-APPS, 1-2  4.10