The sell-job for the Mets ahead of the 2023 MLB trade deadline on Aug. 1 has begun as veteran reliever David Robertson was traded to the Miami Marlins for two prospects after their rain-delayed 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Thursday night.
“We were faced with where our club was at this point of the season,” Mets general manager Billy Eppler said. “In this circumstance, the value of the players we acquired exceeded our expectations. So we executed it.”
A team that owned the highest payroll in MLB history and once had World Series aspirations is 17 games out of the NL East division lead and seven games out of the Wild Card. Though the severity of the sale still remains to be seen.
The Mets are likely in the process of purging their expiring, veteran contracts. But the chance still remains that they could sell some of their most notable starting pitchers in Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer.
Robertson, 38, performed well after signing a one-year deal with the Mets this winter — originally as the eighth-inning man to set up closer Edwin Diaz. But in an unreliable bullpen thrown into chaos after Diaz went down with a knee injury at the World Baseball Classic, he took over as the Mets’ impromptu closer, posting a 2.05 ERA with 14 saves.
“I signed here expecting to play for a team that was going to compete for the division,” Robertson said after the trade was announced. “We still had the guys to get it done, we just couldn’t put it together. I don’t know what it was… but there’s still a lot of season left. They can still turn it around. Until you’re mathematically eliminated, you’re still in this thing… For me personally, I wanted to be here. This was the place to play.
“I thought this was the spot to be and have a good chance of winning it all. I’m going to move on and join my new team and focus on that goal now.”
In return from their division rival, the Mets are receiving shortstop Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez.
The 18-year-old Vargas, described as possessing “elite contact” and “elite decision-making,” owns an .899 OPS with 38 walks compared to just 22 strikeouts in 33 games this season in the Florida Complex League. He is expected to make the jump into MLB’s top-100 prospects list in the very near future.
Hernandez, 19, also plays in the FCL as a switch-hitting catcher who Eppler described as possessing “above average arm strength,” and “really good decision-making in the batter’s box.”
