Mets keep pace in competitive National League with best deadline in a decade

New York Times

a day ago

SAN DIEGO — In his first trade deadline with the Mets, David Stearns showed he could be creatively opportunistic in working the margins of a flawed roster to raise its floor. In his second, he attacked the ceiling.
In adding Cedric Mullins, Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto, Stearns constructed the best trade deadline the Mets have had in a decade. Before you raise your hand shouting about the lack of a starting pitcher, know that the bar to clear from the Mets' past deadlines was located in the benthic zone.
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To wit, some headlines in The Athletic on this day in recent years include:
2018: 'In the face of their mediocrity, the Mets opt to stay the course'
2019: 'After a muddled trade deadline, what exactly is the Mets' plan?'
2022: 'Mets' conservative trade deadline approach failed to meet the moment'
But not since 2015 had the Mets acted this aggressively to acquire outside talent and improve the big-league roster, and in doing so, Stearns showcased the kind of player development machine the Mets are transforming into. The 2021 deadline headline was 'The Mets want to be the East Coast Dodgers. This week showed where they need to grow.' In this year's trade deadline summary, The Athletic's Andy McCullough wrote, 'This is the closest the Mets have come to looking like (Steve) Cohen's dream, the East Coast version of the Dodgers, using a bustling minor-league system to set up the big-league club for October success.'
David Stearns is excited to bring on Cedric Mullins 👀
Full trade deadline press conference 🎥👉 https://t.co/4co6kNYEPu pic.twitter.com/bPih8lacB0
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 31, 2025
That's legitimate and now tangible progress.
'The story of this deadline for us is really an amateur talent acquisition and player development story,' Stearns said Thursday. 'Our amateur talent acquisition departments and our player development group put us in position to have this type of deadline to go out, acquire players we think will really help us at the major-league level and not touch some really high-upside players at the top of our system.'
But for the Mets, here's the annoying part about the past 36 hours: Having a really good trade deadline was just holding serve in the more-competitive-than-ever landscape of the National League. The Mets added arguably the three best rental relievers dealt in the market — but Philadelphia and San Diego each landed a better reliever. The Mets brought in an everyday center fielder in Mullins; the Phillies and Padres acquired outfield regulars as well.
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In making those additions, Philadelphia's Dave Dombrowski and San Diego's A.J. Preller were living up to long-standing reputations for aggressive midseason action. So did the prospect — and then the reality — of those teams' boldness play into New York's thinking at all?
'It really can't influence what we're doing. We're focused on following our plan and our strategy,' Stearns said. 'If we get too influenced one way or the other about what one of our competitors are doing or not doing, I don't think that's going to lead to the most productive behavior on our end. We focus on ourselves, executing our strategy and making sure we're making every decision with the best information possible. If we do that, we'll probably end up in a good spot.'
Yes, the Cubs were quieter than expected, and the Brewers as quiet as expected. The Dodgers did not, as per their custom, acquire the best pitcher moved all month seconds before the deadline. That L.A. roster is still more formidable than any in baseball if it even approaches full health.
The focus on Philadelphia and San Diego, though, is not cute or coincidental. The Mets lead the Phillies by a half-game in the National League East; the outcome of that race will establish the difficulty of October's path for New York.
And if the postseason were to start tomorrow, the Mets would play the Padres in a three-game Wild Card Series. The same Padres who just swept them in three at Petco Park this week. The same Padres whose bullpen held the Mets to four hits in 47 at-bats before adding the fireballing Mason Miller to that group.
'It was competitive, absolutely, and it should have been competitive,' Stearns said of the trade market, especially among relievers. 'There's a lot of teams looking for arms. We knew that. We went after some arms we think are pretty talented, so we expected it to be competitive and it was.'
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That's how it's going to be the rest of the way in the National League — to make the playoffs, to win the division, to get a bye, to win any postseason series.
'I don't view this as windows,' Stearns said. 'Our responsibility here 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, that's what we're aiming to make it.'
He did that Thursday. Now the real fun starts.
(Photo of Ryan Helsley: Patrick Gorski / Imagn Images)