David Stearns Recaps Mets’ Deadline Moves

It is probably best to view the trade deadline for the New York Mets through a wide prism.

With the deadline now in the books, it is fair to say the Mets accomplished what they set out to achieve.

They added rotation depth by trading for Oakland A’s starter Paul Blackburn. The front office also further bolstered the bullpen, adding RHP Huascar Brazobán from the Marlins and RHP Tyler Zuber from the Rays. In return, New York gave up just one prospect in each deal.

Those moves came on the heels of the earlier additions of RHP Phil Maton, RHP Ryne Stanek and OF Jesse Winker.

The Mets didn’t have to give up any of their top prospect capital, and they were still able to add pieces that will help down the stretch despite the market price being skyscraper high.

President of baseball operations David Stearns spoke to the media immediately after addressing a number of key issues.

ON TRADE DEADLINE APPROACH

Stearns admitted that the team’s trade deadline plans were altered in the wake of losing Kodai Senga for the year. However, Stearns also conceded that it was never going to be possible to replace Senga.

“Overall we were looking to add to the team in a variety of different ways,” Stearns said. “Add some quality arms to the pen. After Senga’s injury, try and fortify our rotation a little bit and then add a lefty bat.

“You’re never going to be able to replace a pitcher like Senga at the deadline, so we just tried to figure out how best to fortify our team around it. It meant both in the rotation and in the bullpen to ensure we had enough arms and some flexibility in various roles to put us in the best position for the next few months and hopefully beyond.”

ON THE HIGH ASKING PRICE FOR PITCHING 

Demand for pitching was incredibly high this year, as were the prices. The Astros gave up two top prospects for Yusei Kikuchi, a 33-year-old starter with a 4.75 ERA this year. Furthermore, the Orioles gave up two of their best prospects for Marlins LHP Trevor Rogers.

As a result, if the Mets were to add a high-impact starter, they would have had to give up a boatload of high-end prospect capital. It was clear Stearns wasn’t willing to ever do that, especially given the nature of the market this year.

The balance “is trying to figure out what the right segment of your system to include in any particular deal,” Stearns said “In this situation, given the players that were available, given the prices on certain players, we felt like this was the right course to take and that the transactions we were able to execute were the right ones to do.”

Stearns also said he doesn’t expect the high price for starting pitching in the trade market to be a long-term issue.

ON THE THREE PITCHERS ADDED AT THE DEADLINE

The Mets added three pitchers on Tuesday. They sent No. 27 prospect Kade Morris to the A’s for Blackburn. They gave up INF Wilfredo Lara, their No. 35 prospect, for RHP Huascar Brazobán. And, finally, they traded No. 34 prospect Paul Gervase to the Rays for RHP Tyler Zuber. Stearns gave his thoughts on the three new additions.

“[Blackburn] is an incredibly consistent pitcher who fills the strike zone and there is kind of a kitchen sink approach to what he does,” Stearns said. “We think he’s going to fit into our rotation quite nicely.”

Stearns also wanted to find team control of pitchers, an area the team currently lacks. They found it in Blackburn, Brazobán and Zuber. He also pointed out Brazobán’s and Zuber’s ability to mix pitches and noted improvements both have recently made.

ON Making the Playoffs

Stearns was also asked if the plan ever changed for the deadline based on what the Mets have been able to accomplish over the last couple of months.

He was firm that the plan was and still is to make the playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter how we got here, we got to a place where we’re a playoff-caliber team,” he said. “We did what we thought was the right thing to do in adding certain components to the team.”

JOSÉ BUTTÓ’S ROLE GOING FORWARD

José Buttó has been incredibly effective out of the bullpen for the Mets, allowing just two earned runs in his last five outings out of the pen. And, following the addition of Blackburn, Buttó is likely going to continue pitching in relief for now.

“What José provides is a Swiss Army Knife. He can be shortened up, he can be lengthened out and he provides our roster construction with a number of different options,” Stearns said.

For the moment, I think he’ll be in the bullpen going forward.”

ON NOT GIVING UP TOP PROSPECT CAPITAL

Finally, Stearns provided some insight into his thinking behind not touching the top of the farm system, while also revealing just how in demand some of the Mets’ top prospects were.

“We value some of our top prospects very highly, we think they are going to contribute here for a long time and we were very mindful of that as we went through the process,” Stearns said.

He also noted that “every single one of our top prospects was asked about multiple times.” However, the team clearly didn’t see a deal they liked and expect their top prospects to continue to grow under their watch.

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