Mets trade for 2-time All-Star reliever from Orioles
Riding a wave of momentum amid a four-game winning streak, the New York Mets (59-44) are looking to stay on the attack by bolstering their bullpen. They completed a trade with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday afternoon, acquiring two-time All-Star reliever Gregory Soto, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Pitching reigns supreme in October, and president of baseball operations David Stearns is wasting no time in adding a potentially difference-making hurler.
The respected executive is sending right-handers Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster back to Baltimore, according to SNY's Andy Martino. The former was the Mets' No. 19-ranked prospect, and the latter was a 14th-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. The O's may just be getting started, as they come to grips with their brutal decline and shift their focus to the future.
New York is also moving with purpose, but with a different goal in mind. Although fans are surely hoping for a bigger splash before the July 31 MLB trade deadline passes, this latest acquisition is quite notable.
While Soto is a few years removed from his peak Detroit Tigers form, he gives the Mets another lefty that could take the mound in pivotal situations. If this team is going to finish what it started in 2024 and win the National League pennant this year, it will need variety in its pen.
Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker and Christian Yelich are just some of the imposing southpaw sluggers manager Carlos Mendoza will have to decipher this October. Soto is a possible solution.
The 30-year-old has a 3.96 ERA with 44 strikeouts and 18 walks in 36 1/3 innings pitched this season. He is weathering some control issues — walked three batters in a rough outing Tuesday versus the Cleveland Guardians, but Soto can get himself out of trouble by fanning 27.5 percent of the hitters he faces. Stearns should sleep soundly knowing he added a left-hander who boasts swing-and-miss stuff at an affordable rate.
But his job is far from done. The Mets' front office will keep working the phones and stay alert for future opportunities to upgrade the roster.
Related: Mets rumors: New York interested in Luis Robert Jr. trade
Related: Mets' Starling Marte receiving trade interest before deadline
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
a few seconds ago
- New York Times
The Red Sox's necessary gamble, plus poll results on the Savannah Bananas
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Football's on tonight. Copy I am forever fascinated by the newish trend of MLB general managers betting early on prospects, circumventing baseball's archaic arbitration system — in which a player is ineligible for free agency for six seasons — by buying out those arbitration years. It's a simple yet expensive wager: The Red Sox made their biggest bet of this era yesterday, paying young star Roman Anthony $130 million over eight seasons after just 46 games at the major-league level. Two facets here: Things are looking up in Boston, both in the future and in the present, where the blazing Sox have won seven straight. We saw tremendous interaction from you all yesterday about the apparently beloved Savannah Bananas, as if that were actually in question. After asking you if MLB should take some pointers from the roving band of theatrical baseballers, here's how it shook out: I have to be honest: I know support for the Bananas runs deep, but I didn't know it was that serious. Two final thoughts on the phenomenon: Let's keep moving: MLB's first female umpire gets the call Jen Pawol, a minor-league umpire, will become the first female umpire in MLB history when she calls the Marlins-Braves game on Saturday. Pawol has risen steadily through the minors and has called Triple-A games since 2023. She's also been behind the plate in MLB spring training games. Very, very cool. Read more about her here. Advertisement Osaka's comeback continues Naomi Osaka is on to the Canadian Open final, her first WTA 1000 final since 2022, after beating Denmark's Clara Tauson in last night's semifinal. It's a big step back for Osaka, who's struggled of late. Her foe in the final: Victoria Mboko, the sport's burgeoning superstar. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. We are a few days late to this, but oh boy (buoy?), it's very worth a look. Last week, the Seattle Kraken's beloved mascot Buoy was helping film a promotional video, which placed the adorable troll fishing in the middle of an Alaskan river with Kraken forward John Hayden. Then a bear popped out of the woods and launched into the water: TROLL NARROWLY ESCAPES BEAR ENCOUNTER🤯🧌🐻 *no trolls or bears were hurt in the making, always respect wildlife in their natural habitat 🩶 — Buoy (@SEAbuoy) July 31, 2025 Let me be clear that no one was hurt in this encounter before I tell you I've cackled at this video on and off for hours. Seeing the fixed, goofy face of a hockey mascot running away from a literal bear is funny every day of the week. Just look at his face again: This reminded the Pulse braintrust of another unfortunate Seattle mascot incident, when the Mariners' Mister Moose crashed into the Kingdome outfield wall and fractured his ankle. No more dangerous mascot outings in Seattle, please. Almost done: 📺 LLSWS: North Carolina vs. Asia-Pacific 6 p.m. ET on ESPN The winner here advances to the bracket final, which essentially acts as a semifinal. If you're enjoying the Little League change of pace this week, throw this on tonight. 📺 NFL: Raiders at Seahawks 10 p.m. ET on NFL Network Welcome to Week 1 of the NFL preseason, which features three games tonight. I like this one best for us because it's on national TV and we get a glimpse of the Pete Carroll-coached Raiders. See the whole slate here. Get tickets to games like these here. I loved this a lot: On the September 2008 game that was supposed to feature Randy Johnson pitching against Greg Maddux. Both were scratched, making way for two rookies … Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw. Make time for this. Brian Flores is a madman, the perfect antidote to today's NFL offenses. Ted Nguyen and Alec Lewis broke down how the Vikings defensive coordinator created a 'living, breathing virus' that vexes opposing coaches. Advertisement Richard Deitsch has an exclusive interview with ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro about the network's news yesterday. His comments are worth a read. Seth Emerson has lessons from Netflix's docuseries on SEC football. It's on my list for this weekend. Wait, how can Manchester United afford to buy Benjamin Sesko? Chris Weatherspoon has answers. 'No Free Lunch' welcomed Dan Le Batard onto the show for what I thought was a fascinating conversation. Watch here. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Britt Ghiroli's story on the Savannah Bananas, naturally. Most-read on the website yesterday: Speaking of Man Utd spending, David Ornstein reports the club contacted Brighton about midfielder Carlos Baleba Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
USA Today
29 minutes ago
- USA Today
Athletics' Nick Kurtz 'shocked' to be MLB rookie sensation a year after college
WASHINGTON — Nick Kurtz's dominance has been so startlingly sudden, so consistent and enduring that it's challenging to pinpoint exactly when the Athletics realized just what they had on their hands. It'd be understandable if that moment came in spring training, when the 6-5, 240-pound Kurtz showed up just seven months after he was drafted fourth overall out of Wake Forest and immediately displayed a mindset beyond his years, and a plate approach more suited to a player a decade into his major league career. It'd be obvious if that ah-ha sequence came July 25, when Kurtz became the first rookie in major league history to hit four home runs in a game, a 6-for-6 night in which he also tied the major league record with 19 total bases. Or perhaps by month's end, when Kurtz had tallied 25 extra-base hits, one shy of Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx's franchise record set in 1932, earning him American League rookie and player of the month honors. For Brent Rooker, though, the jaw dropped for good over two nights in June, when his young teammate's greatest attributes – the gorgeous swing, the inner calm, the prodigious power – came together in a manner that turns bad ballclubs good. The Athletics – housed in Sacramento for the moment – might have been swept in four games by the Houston Astros if not for Kurtz. He hit a pair of walk-off home runs in that four-game series, coming off Astros relief aces Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader, moonshots that sent thousands of fans gleefully into the Yolo County night. 'He was good before that,' Rooker, the A's two-time All-Star outfielder, tells USA TODAY Sports, 'but everybody realized how good he could be. Those were two of the better relievers in the entire league. He had great at-bats against them in crucial situations and hit two home runs to win two games. 'As impressive as he was prior to that, those two nights kind of shined a light on how special he is.' How special? Special enough to debut April 23 yet still post 23 homers by early August, to go along with a .307 average, 1.035 ERA and 61 RBIs, leading all rookies. Special enough to mark that epic four-homer night in Houston (the kid doesn't like the Astros, it seems) not as an apex but rather the midpoint of a 20-game heater in which he batted .480 with nine homers and a 1.575 OPS. And special enough to earn the esteem of a young yet salty clubhouse with his quiet yet significant presence. 'The joy of all of it,' says A's manager Mark Kotsay, 'is the humility that he shows day in and day out.' 'They fly through the minor leagues' It would be easy for Kurtz to carry the traits of an entitled young baseball bro. In short, he's always been elite, even after he left the snowy climes of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in search of greater competition. Kurtz made enough of a splash to earn a spot on Team USA's 12-and-under team in 2015, a squad that won eight of nine games to claim a WBSC World Cup title in Taiwan. Kurtz was a slugger and also the top pitcher on that team, but it was as much networking opportunity as it was youth baseball nirvana. A handful of teammates went on to attend Baylor School, a college prep boarding school and hothouse for baseball development in Tennessee. As Kurtz schlepped through the uncertain weather patterns of Central Pennsylvania in spring, his pals' recruiting efforts finally paid off. 'I was playing in the snow and bad weather in Pennsylvania,' says Kurtz, 'so I decided maybe going south was the best thing for me as a player. It just kind of worked out that way.' And what a squad. Christian Moore went on to star at Tennessee and was chosen four slots behind Kurtz in the 2024 draft; he also made his major league debut this season, for the Los Angeles Angels. Infielder Henry Godbout went on to Virginia, was drafted in the second round in July and signed with the Boston Red Sox. In his junior year, Kurtz said, almost the entire lineup was committed to Atlantic Coast or Southeastern conference schools. Kurtz went to Wake Forest, a school better known for its 'pitching lab,' yet whose rep for churning out sluggers is about to grow significantly. It was there that Kurtz, under associate head coach Bill Cilento and assistant Matthew Wessinger, took both his mechanics and approach to a higher level. 'That's stayed true from my freshman year in college,' says Kurtz, 'to where I am today.' By his junior year, Kurtz's statistics were predictably video game variety – a .531 on-base percentage and 22 homers in 54 games, and the A's snagged Kurtz fourth overall, two picks after teammate Chase Burns, a right-handed pitcher, was selected by Cincinnati. Yet consider this: Barely a year later, Kurtz has already hit one more home run in the big leagues (in just 75 games) than he did his senior season at Wake Forest. How has Kurtz made the game's highest level seem as simple as a weekend series at Duke? He points to the A's most recent draft pick – left-hander Jamie Arnold, chosen 11th overall out of Florida State – as an example of how the college game is, perhaps more than ever, an express lane to prepare young players for the big leagues. 'You see more and more guys getting called up earlier than you've ever seen before,' says Kurtz. 'More kids, very talented guys are going to college, especially with NIL – more guys are getting to school. 'We picked Jamie Arnold this year. I faced him many times and that's as pro-ready an arm I've seen. I think he's one of the best. Every school in the SEC, ACC, they might have a guy or two like that. 'The advancements we've made internally at the school have prepared all of us.' The A's will certainly vouch for that. Kurtz is now the overwhelming favorite to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors, but until he suffered a fractured forearm, A's shortstop Jacob Wilson – drafted in 2023, debuted in 2024, an All-Star in 2025 – was the choice. 'Those guys, it seems like they fly through the minor leagues and are ready to compete at the big league level,' says A's catcher Shea Langeliers, drafted ninth overall out of Baylor by Atlanta in 2019. 'The college game is advancing and those kids are more mature. 'The talent level is getting closer to the minor league level, so you're almost playing minor league baseball in college.' A big week for 'Big Amish' Yet Kurtz, Langeliers says, is different. 'Seeing him for the first time in spring training, being around him, thinking of when I was 22, compared to where he's at at 22, it's just a massive difference,' he says. 'Maturity-wise, how he sees the game, how quickly he's adaptable and adjustable, it's been really impressive.' Kotsay, in his fourth season as A's manager, hints at an extremely high ceiling for Kurtz based on the dispatch with which he adjusts to pitchers. Kurtz's 11.4% walk rate is well above average, but as he matures as a hitter, he should cut into a 29.4% K rate. 'It's really eye-opening to see a young player make adjustments almost pitch-to-pitch in an at-bat, and he's got that ability, which is really special,' says Kotsay. 'When we talk about classifying big league hitters, I always say, guys in the Hall of Fame make adjustments pitch-to-pitch. 'Guys that are All-Stars make adjustments at-bat to at-bat, and guys that are everyday players, it can be a game or a series before the adjustment's made. 'I think he's leaning on that top one - where he's got a knack to make an adjustment pitch-to-pitch.' Kurtz is enjoying a big week in the Mid-Atlantic – he had roughly 40 family and friends roll down from Lancaster to Nationals Park; and no, despite Kurtz's 'Big Amish' nickname teammates bestowed upon him, they did not travel by horse and buggy. A larger throng is expected this weekend at Baltimore's Camden Yards, where Kurtz attended countless games as a kid. Success came quickly then and, somehow, it's coming even faster now. 'I would say I'm a little shocked, surprised,' says Kurtz. 'I knew I was a good hitter, but having a really good rookie year is pretty cool to see.' And there's still two more months for Kurtz to expand what seems to be a limitless horizon.
New York Times
30 minutes ago
- New York Times
How the Milwaukee Brewers (yes, the Brewers) built one of baseball's best teams (again)
On the day after the MLB trade deadline, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy uncapped a pen and scribbled notes for himself. Quiet, he wrote. Less is more. 'We've been doing the deadline all year,' he said, and so opted against blustering into his clubhouse to cajole or commiserate with the team about the lack of major acquisitions. There was no need to call a meeting with a group that has become, improbably, the owners of the best record in baseball. Instead, he used the same pen to write out his lineup. Advertisement At the top of the order, he inked the name of the day's only active addition, Brandon Lockridge, a 28-year-old outfielder with a little more than 100 big-league plate appearances and one career home run. 'He seems like our kind of player,' Murphy said. What Murphy meant offered insight into how the Brewers view themselves as they chase yet another National League Central title: players who demonstrate skill with their glove, ability on the base paths, and a willingness to sublimate their ego to serve the greater good. 'You have to be hyper-vigilant about who you are,' Murphy said. 'The awareness of who you are and how you impact the game.' When the Brewers host the New York Mets this weekend, it will be a rematch of one of last year's most riveting postseason faceoffs and a potential preview for this coming October. A return to the postseason was expected for the Mets, who spent $750 million on outfielder Juan Soto. It was far less of a given for Milwaukee, whose front office lobbied owner Mark Attanasio not to cut payroll. For the Brewers, last October ended with the heartbreak wrought by Pete Alonso's home run off closer Devin Williams. The offseason was almost as dispiriting. The team traded Williams, a two-time All-Star, just as they traded away former National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes the year before. Shortstop Willy Adames departed in free agency. They watched from afar as the Chicago Cubs loaded up to chase them. Yet here the Brewers are, back in first place, confounding skeptics and offering a blueprint for success on a shoestring budget. At this point in the season, outsiders tend to get dispatched to explain how the team — residents of baseball's smallest market, financed by a payroll in the sport's bottom third — are doing it again. The questions amuse those who have heard them before, having made the postseason in six of the past seven seasons. Advertisement 'Same way we do it every year,' said outfielder Christian Yelich, the team's longest-tenured position player and the only Brewer inked to a nine-figure contract. 'We just find ways to win games.' He added, 'We have a standard, like, an identity of how we play. And everyone who comes in here slots into that.' The formula this season reflects the composition of the roster, a team with lackluster power but superlative fundamentals. Murphy and the coaching staff emphasize team-wide execution. No hitter feels burdened with carrying the lineup. The offense places the opponent in a nine-inning pressure cooker; no team has been more valuable on the bases, according to FanGraphs. The development staff has created a pipeline of pitchers who trust the organization's ability to guide them. The players operate without the pressure of the big-city microscope. 'It's like a weird storm of all these different things coming about,' said pitcher Brandon Woodruff. At the center of the storm is Murphy, the 66-year-old former college baseball coach who moved into the manager's office when Craig Counsell decamped for the Chicago Cubs before last season. Murphy applies the same principles of selflessness to his staff through a makeshift, ego-deflating exercise he calls 'the check game,' which is designed to prevent people from puffing themselves up. Murphy devised the system during eight seasons as Counsell's bench coach. He kept tallies on a whiteboard. When former bullpen coach Steve Karsay referred to his Yankees teammate Derek Jeter as 'Jetes,' that was a check. When Counsell brought his glove to the ballpark, that was a check. And then there was the time former hitting coach Andy Haines attempted to solicit insight from former president of baseball operations David Stearns, who left to run the Mets in 2023. Advertisement 'We're all in the coaches' room,' Murphy said. 'So Haines goes to Stearns, 'David, I've been wanting to know the answer to this, and I figured I'd bring it right to the top.' And then Stearns goes, 'Well, what do you got, Andy?' And I'm like, 'Hold on a sec. That's a check, Stearnsy. So you're the top? Mark doesn't own this team?' Murphy maintains the same rigor with the Ivory Tower, the name he has given for members of general manager Matt Arnold's front office. 'An Ivory Tower check is when they come swooping in, like, 'Hey, why don't you —' and give us a suggestion,' Murphy said. 'That's a f—ing check.' So if someone in the scouting department bragged about bird-dogging flame-thrower Jacob Misiorowski, that would be a check. If someone in the analytics department claimed credit for seeing a path to success in first baseman Andrew Vaughn's minor-league batted ball data, that would be a check. And if anyone crowed about the wisdom of trading a competitive-balance draft pick for starter Quinn Priester? Yep, that's a check. The Brewers added all those players weeks before the deadline. The deal for Priester demonstrated the team's ability to utilize its market size to its advantage. The club received two compensatory draft picks last winter, one for losing Adames, who signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, and another as part of an initiative in the collective bargaining agreement to aid teams that draw the least revenue. In April, Arnold bundled that second pick, which was No. 33 overall, along with two prospects to acquire Priester, a first-round pick in 2019 who had not made Boston's Opening Day roster. 'You have a lot of guys in our clubhouse who have been overlooked for a long time,' Arnold said. Upon arrival, Priester recalled, he received a series of specific but simple instructions. The team wanted him to focus on pounding his 94-mph sinker down and away to generate groundballs. He needed to learn to spot his 92-mph cutter for back-door strikes. A lack of control in the running game was not acceptable. The little things, he was told, count around here. 'Those little things keep the game simple, keep the game fun, keep the game loose,' Priester said. 'And you realize you're only one simple play away from doing something great.' Priester stabilized a starting rotation that has improved as the season progressed. Woodruff returned in July after missing last season following shoulder surgery. Freddy Peralta made his second All-Star team last month. He was joined at the Midsummer Classic by Misiorowski, a 6-foot-7 rookie taken in the second round of the 2022 draft who throws so hard his changeup clocks at 92 mph. Advertisement The team also possesses the depth to protect the group. When Misiorowski took a ball off his shin in late July, the team was able to put him on the injured list rather than risk him damaging his arm while compensating for the discomfort. The Brewers also had a ready-made replacement when first baseman Rhys Hoskins injured his thumb last month. Milwaukee called up Vaughn, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft, whose career had sputtered with the Chicago White Sox. Vaughn was languishing in the minors in June when Brewers pitcher Aaron Civale, after being moved to the bullpen, asked to be traded. Soon after, Arnold exchanged Civale for Vaughn, who remained in Triple A until Hoskins went down. 'Just getting him in a different environment, with a different level of pressure, we thought would be a good change of scenery for him,' Arnold said. When Vaughn received his promotion, the staff provided marching orders, just as they did for Priester. If he did not swing at strikes, he would not stick around. The message left little room for interpretation, which is one of Murphy's hallmarks. 'It's professional baseball, at the end of the day,' Yelich said. 'I think people lose sight of that sometimes. Like, wanting it to be like, 'Oh, you're doing great and it's OK.' Sometimes, it's not OK. It's the big leagues. There's a league for other s—, and it's not this one.' Vaughn responded to the ultimatum. In his first 20 games as a Brewer, he batted .371 with six home runs and a 1.118 OPS. He is far from the only new face thriving in the lineup. Outfielder Isaac Collins might win National League Rookie of the Year. Caleb Durbin, one of the players acquired from the New York Yankees in exchange for Williams, has emerged as a solid regular at third base. The presence of Vaughn adds more power potential for a lineup that will need it in October. A recent hot streak from slugging catcher William Contreras also provides optimism. The franchise has not won a postseason series since 2018. Yelich believes this group could be different. Advertisement 'Our culture here brings the best out of players,' Yelich said. 'Because you feel comfortable when you don't have to put the team on your back, all by yourself. Just compete your ass off and have fun. Just give it hell. That's all you can do.' The next few months will determine if a team stocked with their kind of player can win it all. (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Photos: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images, Matthew Grimes / Getty Images, Jess Rapfogel / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
