The New York Mets have been extremely active on the bullpen market. After acquiring Gregory Soto and Tyler Rogers, they added their biggest arm yet in Ryan Helsley.
Let’s break down the deal and grade each side.
New York Mets Grade: A-
The reliever market is looking pricy. Soto was acquired for two prospects, one ranked 19th in the Mets system at the time. Rogers was acquired for Jose Butto, a 27-year-old Major League-level arm with years of control, and two former top prospects in Blade Tidwell and Drew Gilbert. Now Helsley goes for the 8th and 14th prospects in New York’s system, plus an extra lottery ticket arm.
Everyone needs arms down the stretch and in October. Manager Carlos Mendoza now has a wealth of arms to work with. Here’s a look at the main arms in the New York pen: Edwin Diaz, Helsley, Soto, Rogers, Brooks Raley, Reed Garrett, and Ryne Stanek. That’s a stacked mix of experience, velocity, and efficiency. They have left-handed specialists, strikeout arms, and ground ball specialists. They’ve got an argument for the best pen in baseball heading into the stretch run.
My only quibble with this deal is that it leaves New York with four bullpen pieces going into unrestricted free agency. Helsley, Rogers, Stanek, and Soto can all depart this winter. Owner Steve Cohen has shown no hesitation to pull out the checkbook, so that’s a minor issue, but one worth noting. Deep pockets or not, cheap relievers with several years of control are always the most valuable.
St. Louis Cardinals Grade: C+
I’ve got two problems with this trade for the Cardinals. And neither concerns the decision to trade Ryan Helsley.
This deal should have been done in the offseason. Helsley was coming off an All-Star season with a major league-leading 49 saves, recording a 2.04 ERA over 66.1 innings. But the Cardinals weren’t a playoff team, and didn’t project to be much better. After an 83-79 record last season, they’re 55-54 going into Wednesday’s game. Trading Helsley as an expiring reliever at the peak of his value made sense and would have generated a much higher return.
It could be worse. He hasn’t been as unhittable as last year, but still great. There aren’t injuries to be concerned with, and he had a good market. But that leads to my second issue: the return itself.
Jesus Baez is the headliner as the eighth overall prospect. He’s got good power and a strong arm from the left side of the infield, but isn’t expected to stick at shortstop long term. Nate Dohm, the 14th-ranked prospect, has a good fastball-slider combination. The worry is that his forearm injury concerns can crop up again, and he could end up in the bullpen. Elissalt is not ranked in the Mets’ top 30 prospects and is a 23-year-old lottery ticket bullpen prospect.
All in all, it’s an uninspiring return for a top-tier rental reliever. The Mets had to trade Jose Butto, a reliever with lots of control, and two top graduates in Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell to the Giants to get Tyler Rogers. Rogers may have the lower ERA, but he doesn’t have the rocket velocity Ryan Helsley possesses to blow by hitters come October. Maybe St. Louis sees something more in these prospects, but on paper, it’s a bit underwhelming.
