Mets acquire centerfielder Cedric Mullins from Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles' Cedric Mullins rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday in Baltimore. Credit: AP/Stephanie Scarbrough
SAN DIEGO — In the end, the Mets spent this trade deadline creating a team they hope will be built for efficiency and, above all, for postseason dominance.
In Gregory Soto (obtained from the Orioles), Tyler Rogers (from the Giants) and Ryan Helsley (from the Cardinals), president of baseball operations David Stearns stitched together a back end of the bullpen meant to drastically shorten games, yes, but also frustrate opponents thanks to vastly differing skill sets and approaches.
In getting centerfielder Cedric Mullins from the Orioles, he hoped to take one more quandary away from manager Carlos Mendoza — defense or offense?
It’s the question Mendoza had to confront every time he chose between the defensively superior Tyrone Taylor in centerfield or super-utilityman Jeff McNeil, who’s third on the team in OPS.
The Mets sacrificed only one major-leaguer in the deals — righty reliever Jose Butto — but gave up a giant haul of minor-leaguers, including five top-30 prospects, headlined by No. 6 Jesus Baez, an infielder, and No. 10 Drew Gilbert, a centerfielder.
All four players acquired will be free agents at the end of the year which, of course, means just one thing: World Series or bust.
But in a Zoom conference with reporters shortly after the 6 p.m. deadline Thursday, Stearns said that should always be the goal.
“I don’t view this as windows” of winning a championship, he said. “Our responsibility is to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs and ultimately win a World Series every single year. That’s what this should be . . . I don’t view this period of Mets competitiveness in a defined window. I view it as the beginning of what should be a very long and sustained period of competitiveness at the highest level. I think the moves we were able to make the last couple of days certainly help that this year without, in a very material way, sacrificing some very high-upside special talent that could help us in years to come.”
The trade for Mullins on Thursday came after weeks of discussions with the Orioles, Stearns said. He’s batting .229/.305/.433 this year with pop — 15 homers and 49 RBIs. He’ll add a lefty bat to an already lefty-heavy lineup and speed on the basepaths; he has 14 stolen bases.
Metrics say his defense is a mixed bag: He’s an athletic defender with two outs above average, according to Baseball Savant, but -13 defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs. He’s got decent range and a below-average arm but is an excellent route-runner.
“We talk a lot about ways that players can impact games that may not always show up in the boxscore, and we think Cedric has the ability to do a lot of that,” Stearns said. “We like the quality of centerfield he’s played, especially over, let’s say, the last eight weeks. He recovered from a little bit of a hamstring tweak.”
Stearns said McNeil will continue to see occasional time in centerfield, along with second base and DH. The Mets also intend to keep rotating their cast of young players in what has become a decidedly crammed infield. Mullins also will boost an offense that will be without Jesse Winker (back) until at least September; he was placed on the 60-day injured list Thursday, though a return this season isn’t out of the question, Stearns said.
Stearns did examine the starting pitching market but didn’t find a good fit, and he didn’t rule out the idea of seeing some of the Mets’ minor-league pitching prospects later this year — Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean being obvious candidates.
“There are multiple ways to build a pitching staff and we focused on the back end of the pitching staff,” he said. “We’re really happy with the arms we were able to acquire . . . Both [Rogers and Helsley] can get outs and they can get outs in high leverage against both sides of the ball and they do it differently from one another, which was another thing that I think was important for us — to bring in some different looks.”
Rogers, a submariner like no other pitcher in the majors, throws the ball from just 1.4 feet off the ground. He’s a soft tosser with a devastating sinker and a workhorse with an MLB-high 53 appearances this year. He’s got a 1.80 ERA in 50 innings with four walks and 38 strikeouts.
Helsley is closer to an Edwin Diaz type. He throws a heater that averages out at 99.3 mph and a wipeout slider with a 44.3% strikeout percentage.
Helsley and Diaz are “two very experienced closers, and to have two guys like that who are comfortable in the back end of games, it just makes us better,” Stearns said. “The more guys that you have back there that you have confidence in, the better, and hopefully now we have quite a few that can get big outs for us in big spots.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
