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Luis Robert Jr., a potential Mets' deadline target, would love to play for winner: ex-teammate

Luis Robert Jr., a potential Mets' deadline target, would love to play for winner: ex-teammate

New York Post21 hours ago
SAN DIEGO — If the Mets decide Luis Robert Jr. represents an enticing upgrade in center field, they would be betting on his upside — an MVP candidate as recently as 2023 who has slugged 38 home runs in a season and won a Gold Glove.
They would be betting on their own coaching staff, whom they would trust to elevate Robert's game back toward the vicinity of what it was.
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And they would be betting that a talented player leaving a losing team in Chicago and joining a contender on a coast would help Robert — who turns 28 on Sunday — unlock a better version of himself. That kind of fresh start can help, reports someone who would know.
'I think there's something to it,' Padres outfielder/first baseman/DH Gavin Sheets said. 'Obviously, [Robert is] a tremendous player. I can't speak for him. I don't know what the situation is over there.
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Suárez to Mariners, Durán to Phillies as MLB trade deadline heats up before Thursday's deadline
Suárez to Mariners, Durán to Phillies as MLB trade deadline heats up before Thursday's deadline

Fox Sports

time2 hours ago

  • Fox Sports

Suárez to Mariners, Durán to Phillies as MLB trade deadline heats up before Thursday's deadline

Associated Press The Seattle Mariners acquired slugger Eugenio Suarez, the Philadelphia Phillies dealt for hard-throwing reliever Jhoan Duran and identical twin relievers Tyler and Taylor Rogers got traded on the same day, capping a busy Wednesday as the Major League Baseball trade deadline approaches on Thursday. Suárez — who had 36 homers and 87 RBIs this season for the Arizona Diamondbacks — was widely considered one of the top prizes of the trade deadline. A person familiar with the transaction confirmed it to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because it had not been announced. The 34-year-old Suárez spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the Mariners, hitting 53 homers. The 27-year-old Durán has a 2.01 ERA and 16 saves this season, striking out 53 over 49 1/3 innings for the Minnesota Twins. The Phillies gave up two top prospects, catcher Eduardo Tait and right-hander Mick Abel. Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley are headed to the New York Mets, who are fighting for first place in the NL East with the Phillies. The accomplished relievers join Edwin Diaz in the bullpen to give the Mets multiple late-inning options. The durable Rogers — who has a distinctive submarine delivery — has made 53 appearances this season with a 1.80 ERA, four walks and 38 strikeouts for the San Francisco Giants. The Mets sent the Giants right-handers Jose Butto and Blade Tidwell, along with outfielder Drew Gilbert. Helsley has a 3.00 ERA, 21 saves and 41 strikeouts over 36 innings this year for the St. Louis Cardinals, where he's spent the past seven seasons. New York dealt St. Louis three minor leaguers, including infielder Jesus Baez and right-handers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Even after Suarez was dealt, many of the trade deadline's biggest names remained on the market, setting up a potentially fascinating 24 hours. Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller and Cleveland outfielder Steven Kwan were among the potential season-altering additions that teams were pursuing ahead of Thursday's 6 p.m. EDT deadline. In other moves Wednesday, the New York Yankees added veteran outfielder Austin Slater, the Cincinnati Reds acquired Gold Glove third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes and the Chicago Cubs traded for right-handed starter Michael Soroka. The 32-year-old Slater gives the Yankees a dependable right-handed batter for the final two months of the season. He's hit .236 with five homers and 11 RBIs in 51 games with the White Sox this season and has an .859 OPS against left-handed pitching. The White Sox acquired minor league pitching prospect Gage Ziehl in the trade. The Reds acquired Hayes from the Pirates in exchange for Taylor Rogers, who unlike his brother throws lefty — and overhand. Pittsburgh also got shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura and cash from Cincinnati. The swap gives the Reds an elite defender at third with a manageable contract. The 28-year-old Hayes, a Gold Glove winner in 2023, has four-plus years left on the extension he signed with Pittsburgh in 2022. He will make $7 million in 2026 and 2027 and $8 million in 2028 and 2029, with a club option for $12 million in 2030. He's hitting .236 with two home runs and 36 RBIs this season. The 27-year-old Soroka is off to Chicago, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. He was an All-Star in 2019 and has 3-8 record with a 4.87 ERA for the Washington Nationals this season. Washington received two minor leaguers — infielder Ronny Cruz and outfielder Christian Franklin. Suárez returned to the Diamondbacks' lineup on Wednesday and went 1 for 4, two days after an injury scare. The slugger was hit on the right index finger by a pitch against the Detroit Tigers on Monday. The D-backs have turned into sellers at the deadline after dropping eight of their last nine games and falling to 51-58. Right-handed pitchers Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen are among the other Arizona players who could be dealt. In other moves on Wednesday: — The Red Sox acquired lefty Steven Matz from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for minor league first baseman Blaze Jordan. — The Reds traded for right-hander Zach Littell from the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-way deal involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays. — The Los Angeles Angels acquired relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis Garcia from the Nationals for left-hander Jake Eder and minor league first baseman Sam Brown. — The Atlanta Braves acquired veteran reliever Tyler Kinley from the Colorado Rockies for minor league pitcher Austin Smith. — The Seattle Mariners agreed to add left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving their bullpen another arm as they make a playoff push. The Pirates received right-handed pitching prospect Jeter Martinez. ___ AP Baseball Writers Jay Cohen and Mike Fitzpatrick, and AP Sports Writers Will Graves, Ben Nuckols and Greg Beacham, contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB: recommended Item 1 of 2

Eugenio Suarez trade corrects a Mariners mistake. Can he lead Seattle to World Series?
Eugenio Suarez trade corrects a Mariners mistake. Can he lead Seattle to World Series?

USA Today

time2 hours ago

  • USA Today

Eugenio Suarez trade corrects a Mariners mistake. Can he lead Seattle to World Series?

PHOENIX — The Seattle Mariners, who made the painful mistake of trading third baseman Eugenio Suarez two years ago to the Arizona Diamondbacks only to watch him become one of the game's premier power hitters, swallowed their pride Wednesday night and traded for him back. Suarez, who has 36 homers and 87 RBIs, becomes the first player in baseball history to hit at least 35 homers before he was traded in-season. 'Super excited, it's a great move,'' Mariners MVP candidate Cal Raleigh told reporters after their game Wednesday night. 'He's pretty much everything you look for in a teammate. He's supportive. Super nice. Keeps it light in the room. Always positive. And you add on to that, he's a great player. 'We saw that when he was here the first time, and we were obviously all sad that he left, but we're happy that he's coming back …. Very, very excited for it. Obviously, we know how great a guy he is, how great he's playing this year. Great, great add.' It was the second deal the Mariners and Diamondbacks made in a week with the D-backs also trading first baseman Josh Naylor to Seattle for two pitching prospects. Now, they sent his corner infield teammate to provide the Mariners much-needed power to reach the postseason for only the second time since 2001 after near-misses the last two years. The Mariners, fortunate that the market for Suarez never materialized the way the Diamondbacks envisioned, were able to pull off the deal without touching any of their prized prospects. The cost was first baseman Tyler Locklear, their ninth-best prospect, who leads all Triple-A hitters with 16 homers and 56 RBIs since June 1; and minor-league pitchers Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos, their 16th- and 17th-ranked prospects, respectively. Just like that, they now have a team built to win their first World Series championship in franchise history. The Mariners (57-52) are five games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West, and are tied with the Texas Rangers for the third and final wild-card berth. Yet, with their star-studded rotation of Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller, they can scare the living daylights out of any team in the postseason. And now, they finally have the power they have long coveted, with Suarez hitting 53 home runs over the past year, trailing only Shohei Ohtani (60 homers) and Aaron Judge (58). Raleigh (41 homers) and Suarez (36) make the Mariners the second team in MLB history to enter August with at least two players having at least 35 homers, joining the 1961 Yankees who had Roger Maris (40) and Mickey Mantle (39). The Mariners now have one of the deepest and most-talented lineups in the American League, rectifying the blunder they made two years ago when they traded Suarez. The Mariners thought his career was in a steep decline after the 2023 season, which saw him hit .232 with 22 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 214 strikeouts. The Mariners sent him to Arizona, receiving only minor-league reliever Carlos Vargas and backup catcher Seby Zavala, while saving about $11 million in salary. It looked like a shrewd move when Suarez was struggling so badly — hitting just .193 — that the Diamondbacks considered designating him for assignment in late June 2024. He instead caught fire, hitting .307 with 20 homers and a .942 OPS in the second half, and never cooled off. Now, all the Mariners need is for Suarez to stay hot for three more months, their starting pitching to stay healthy, maybe grab one more late-inning reliever by Thursday's trade deadline, and take the franchise on a magical ride to its first World Series. It has been a long time coming, but now the Mariners have the lineup, the pitching, and the burning desire to pull it off. They've saved prized prospects long enough. Now, it's time for a parade. Follow Nightengale on X: @BNightengale

Where the Mets go from here
Where the Mets go from here

New York Times

time3 hours ago

  • New York Times

Where the Mets go from here

The 2025 MLB trade deadline arrives at 6 p.m. (ET) Thursday. Join us for live updates and analysis on trades around the league. Getty Images Getty Images So, after they landed Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley to bolster their bullpen, what's next for the Mets? It's probably the offense, league sources said. Center field stands out as the most obvious area for an upgrade, but the Mets aren't limiting themselves to just that position, people familiar with their thinking said. Their fluid situation at designated hitter allows them to explore different things. Getty Images Within an hour of the Phillies trading for Twins closer Jhoan Duran, the Mets made a move for Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley. Relief pitching — especially closers — was one place where this trade market felt potentially deepest, and once that market started to move, two of the biggest chips came off the board in a hurry. Duran ranked No. 6 on our Big Board (the top-ranked closer other than Emmanuel Clase) and Helsley ranked No. 26 (the top bullpen rental), but Pirates closer David Bednar, Rays closer Pete Fairbanks, and Royals closer Carlos Estévez also ranked among our top 50. Padres closer Robert Suarez didn't make the Big Board but probably should have (we chose not to rank him, but it now seems possible the Padres could get creative and trade him). The Giants could also trade Camilo Doval, the Nationals could trade Kyle Finnegan, the Angels could trade Kenley Jansen, and the Braves could try to find a taker for Raisel Iglesias. There are still plenty of closers available, but two of the best have come off the board in quick succession. More coming shortly from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal about Jansen... The Mets' deal for Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley is, to use a highly technical term from The Athletic's prospects guru Keith Law, "a f---ing heist." After New York traded MLB reliever José Buttó and two MLB-ready prospects to the Giants for setup man Tyler Rogers, the Cardinals by comparison got three prospects well outside New York's top five in return for the two-time All-Star closer — shortstop Jesus Baez and right-handed pitchers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Baez ranked No. 7 in Law's list of the top 20 prospects in the Mets' farm system before the season, while Dohm ranked No. 17 on that list. Baez is still in the lower levels of the minors. Elissalt was not ranked on Law's list. GO FURTHER New York Mets 2025 top 20 prospects: Brandon Sproat, Jett Williams lead the way Getty Images In their three-game sweep in San Diego, the Mets saw first-hand the value of a shutdown bullpen. The Padres' league-best pen held New York to four hits in 47 at-bats, allowing one run in 11 1/3 innings. That's the kind of pen the Mets are aiming to construct. In Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, the Mets have acquired arguably the two best rental relievers on the market. Rogers is a nightmare on opposing hitters with his submarine arm angle — to the point that the Trajekt system many teams employ to prep for pitchers can't imitate him — and Helsley led the National League in saves just last season. New York can shorten the game now, with Rogers and Helsley joining Reed Garrett, Gregory Soto, Ryne Stanek and Brooks Raley as set-up options to get to Edwin Díaz. Helsley's ample closing experience also provides manager Carlos Mendoza with the freedom to use Díaz earlier in games if desired. The Mets had lacked that kind of piece since A.J. Minter went down earlier this season. Getty Images The Cardinals sell-off begins. Closer Ryan Helsley is the first of three relievers St. Louis expects to move before Thursday's deadline, including right-hander Phil Maton and left-hander Steven Matz. Helsley, the longest-tenured Cardinal, joins what is shaping up the be a super-bullpen in Queens. The Cardinals, eager to bolster their depleted farm system, add prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Baez entered the season ranked No. 7 in the Mets system, per The Athletic's Keith Law, while Dohm is ranked No. 17. Though he hasn't been as dominant as last season, Helsley, 30, remains one of the top closers in the league thanks to his powerful fastball and wipeout slider. Entering play on Wednesday, Helsley had posted a 3.00 ERA over 36 games (21 saves), with 41 strikeouts in 36 innings. Helsley's fastball ranks in the 99th percentile in average velocity (99.3 miles per hour). Both his chase rate and whiff rates are over 30 percent and he's struck out roughly a quarter of his total batters faced this year. There will be some concern over his fastball command — the heater has been hit much harder this year than in previous seasons. But Helsley's stuff, combined with his overall experience, makes him a legitimate weapon and greatly improves the back-end of any contending team's bullpen. GO FURTHER Mets acquire closer Ryan Helsley from Cardinals: Sources The Mets are sending prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt to the Cardinals in the deal for Ryan Helsley, league sources tell The Athletic . Getty Images Ryan Helsley, the fireballing two-time All-Star closer and longest-tenured member of the St. Louis Cardinals, recently estimated his chances of being traded away '90 percent.' He was proven correct on Wednesday, when the New York Mets traded for Helsley, league sources confirmed to The Athletic's Will Sammon. Minutes after our team at The Athletic broke the Phillies' trade for Jhoan Duran, there are some reports about their main competition in the NL East also going all-out for a top closer... We'll have more on that for you shortly... Getty Images One rival evaluator tells me that 18-year-old Eduardo Tait, the former Phillies catching prospect heading to Minnesota, is regarded as having a high ceiling and was asked about by several teams. The evaluator said that pitching prospect Mick Abel could use some improvement his changeup but is now in a good position to do so with the Twins, who are strong at pitching development. GO FURTHER Phillies call their shot and get their closer, acquiring Jhoan Durán from Twins Getty Images Jhoan Duran was asked about the possibility of getting traded an hour ago: 'That'd be hard. I got a couple years here and I feel like here is my family so if that happens, that's maybe breaking my heart a little bit.' Getty Images Minnesota's rumored asking price for Jhoan Duran was extremely high, and the Twins ended up getting (basically) two top-100 prospects for the 27-year-old closer. High-A catcher Eduardo Tait is a consensus top-100 prospect and 23-year-old right-hander Mick Abel was a top-100 prospect prior to graduating to the majors earlier this season. It's the biggest prospect haul for any player traded so far, and yet it's easy to see why Philadelphia was willing to pay the price. Bullpen issues have been a constant for the Phillies, and in Duran they get an elite-level reliever with overpowering raw stuff who can transform the late-inning situation for the next 2 1/2 seasons. Duran leaves behind a huge hole in the Twins' bullpen and his potential closer replacement, Griffin Jax, has also been rumored to be available on the trade market. Louis Varland and Brock Stewart are other candidates to take on a bigger role for the Twins. Tait is the second teenage catching prospect acquired by Minnesota this week, as the Twins picked up rookie-ball prospect Enrique Jimenez in the Chris Paddack swap. It's clear the Twins value catcher depth with Christian Vázquez and impending free agent and Ryan Jeffers under team control through only 2026. Getty Images It has been a rough go for the Phillies bullpen since top reliever José Alvarado was suspended for PED usage on May 18. Since then, the group ranks in the bottom half of MLB in ERA (16th, 4.09), WHIP (19th, 1.35), K% (23rd, 20.7%) and FIP (27th, 4.53), per Fangraphs. The Phillies have needed a high leverage arm to pair with relievers like Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering, the latter of whom has emerged as a key part of the closer by committee operation in recent weeks. They will get that in Duran, who has a 2.01 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings. Griffin Jax, another reliever on the trade block who tentatively becomes the Twins' closer if and when the Jhoan Duran trade is finalized, had this to say to The Athletic's Dan Hayes minutes before the Duran trade news broke: The Athletic's Jayson Stark reports that the Twins will be getting right-handed pitcher Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait from the Phillies in this deal if finalized. Tait was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Phillies' farm system and Abel was ranked the team's No. 9 prospect before the season, per The Athletic's Keith Law. Getty Images The Phillies are close to acquiring closer Jhoan Duran from the Twins, league sources tell The Athletic . Getty Images By Chandler Rome and Dan Hayes The Astros still employ two of Carlos Correa's closest friends: Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers is the godfather of Correa's oldest son, Kylo. 'Correa is a guy with a lot of history here in Houston,' Altuve said after the Astros' 9-1 win against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday. 'He's a great player, great human being, great teammate. Anything that happens, I hope it's the best for him and for us.' Asked if he had spoken to Correa about the possibility of a reunion, Altuve replied 'not yet' and 'maybe when the trade deadline is over.' He then politely ended the interview. Read more from our updated story below. GO FURTHER A Carlos Correa return to Houston via trade with Twins seems unlikely — for now: Sources Getty Images There are a lot of closers and other high-leverage relievers who could be traded in the next 24 hours — Jhoan Duran, Ryan Helsley, Pete Fairbanks, David Bednar, Camilo Doval — but first, contenders are addressing their late-inning, left-handed matchups. Three left-handed relievers have been traded today, and that's after lefty Gregory Soto went to the Mets as the first reliever of consequence to be traded this week. Andrew Chafin (from the Nationals to Angels), Taylor Rogers (from the Reds to Pirates), and now Caleb Ferguson (from the Pirates to Mariners) have all been traded in the past few hours. The only left-handed reliever who made our Big Board was Reid Detmers of the Angels, but he's kind of an unusual case as a failed starter who only this year began pitching out of the bullpen (with considerable success the past three months). Among the other lefties who could be available: Danny Coulombe of the Twins, JoJo Romero of the Cardinals, Jalen Beeks of the Diamondbacks, and Aaron Bummer of the Braves. Getty Images The Yankees optioned JC Escarra to Triple A to make room for Austin Slater, who was acquired earlier today from the White Sox.

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