The New York Mets’ trade deadline was a lot quieter than their cross-town counterparts, as the Mets made just two moves Tuesday – acquiring RHP Mychal Givens from the Cubs and first baseman/outfielder/DH Darin Ruf from the Giants, giving them a new late-inning relief option and a platoon partner for Daniel Vogelbach at DH.
The Mets gave up J.D. Davis and four prospects (including Triple-A RHP Thomas Szapucki) in Tuesday’s trades, which, along with the earlier acquisitions of Vogelbach, Tyler Naquin, and Phillip Diehl, may have only marginally improved the roster in some fans’ eyes, without acquiring the big bat or impact lefty relief arm the team seemingly needed for down the stretch.
The reason for that, GM Billy Eppler admitted Tuesday, was simply a matter of price.
“We actually did come close in the left-handed market, but just couldn’t get the price point to an area where we thought it was reasonable for us to do,” Eppler said in a post-deadline press conference. “Given where we are in the season and what we’d have to yield to do it, we felt it was a little strong for us.”
Eppler said that “we have some options internally to potentially look at” as the season goes on, but for now, Joely Rodriguez is the Mets’ only lefty in the bullpen.
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“We know that Joely has some track record, and feel comfortable with him being able to get back to being the best version of himself,” Eppler said. “We have a lot of faith in our staff to get him back to where he was earlier in the year for us. These things have a way of working out, and we’ll see where we go.”
The Mets optioned Sam Clay, the only other healthy lefty reliever on the 40-man roster, back to Triple-A after all the moves Tuesday, but they have a few other lefties besides Clay in the bullpen at Triple-A Syracuse: recently-acquired Diehl, former first-round pick Alex Claudio, and Locke St.
John, who spent some time in the Majors earlier this year with the Cubs.
They could also make a radical move from their starting depth and use current sixth starter David Peterson (who did get a relief appearance recently in a pinch) or veteran Mike Montgomery (who is currently at just 47 1/3 innings), or perhaps get a boost if and when Joey Lucchesi is able to return from Tommy John surgery that has sidelined him since June 2021.
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