The Mets traded for 8 pitchers over 6 trades last year before and after the 2017 Trade Deadline. Five trades were to move pieces for prospects, one trade was to bring AJ Ramos this season (womp womp). So how are the new pitchers doing?
Trade 1: Drew Smith (For Lucas Duda)
Drew Smith is back in the majors right now. So far this season he allowed 1 run over 3.0 innings from 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2. His three games were between 6/23-6/29 and was recalled this past week. Across Binghamton and Vegas this season he has recorded a 2.68 ERA over 25 games and 37.0 innings with a 1.108 WHIP (right around his minors average), 8.8 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. He’s major league ready for 2019, which is good because the bullpen just doesn’t exist next year.
Trade 2: AJ Ramos (For Ricardo Cespedes / Merandy Gonzalez)
If the Mets were going to make a run in 2018, it was going to be with the bullpen of Blevins, Familia and Ramos. Oops. Ramos is out for the season recovering from shoulder surgery and he didn’t deliver while he was here. Before being traded in 2017 he had a 3.63 ERA over 39.2 innings. In 19.0 innings with the Mets he posted a 4.74 ERA. Then this year he posted a 6.41 ERA over 19.2 innings. Not good. Not good at all.
Trade 3: Stephen Nogosek, Gerson Bautista, & Jamie Callahan (Addison Reed)
Addison read was the big trade chip the Mets has last season and they received three players in return.
Stephen Nogosek with the St. Lucie Mets posting a 3.06 ERA, 3.34 RAvg over 23 games in 32.1 innings. This was a radical improvement from his time with the St Lucie last year where he posted a 5.06 ERA over 16.0 innings. Since being called up to Binghamton, where he is 1.4 years below the average age, he has posted a 14.14 ERA in 7.0 innings. He will probably return to Binghamton next year. Barring a crazy jump in performance, probably a 2020, 2021 arrival in Queens.
Gerson Bautista is a flame thrower. Unfortunately in his short call up to Queens this year he was all over the place allowing 6 runs from 8 hits and 5 walks in 4.1 innings leading to a 12.46 ERA. He hasn’t performed much better between Vegas and Binghamton this year posting a 5.18 ERA over 24.1 innings in Vegas and a 4.82 ERA over 9.1 innings with the Rumble Ponies. His career numbers, for comparison, are a 2.98 ERA over 241.2 innings. It’s hard to say no an arm like Bautista and hopefully over the course of the next year he can find the strike zone again.
Jamie Callahan was the most major ready player at the time of the trade. He’s currently injured. Last year he posted a 4.05 ERA over 6.2 innings during his late season call up with the Mets. Before getting hurt, he allowed 10 runs, 9 earned over 8.1 innings in hitter friendly Las Vegas. Last year he was dominant in Vegas with a 1.80 ERA in 10.0 innings. Once he’s healthy he won’t be too far away from Queens, once again with the amount of players who won’t be Mets in the bullpen at the end of the season.
Trade 4: Ryder Ryan (Jay Bruce)
23 year old Ryder Ryan is one of the pitchers to watch in this group of 8. He has pitched across two leagues this year with St. Lucie and then Binghamton. With St. Lucie he posted a 1.77 ERA over 20.1 innings. Then with the Rumble Ponies, he has posted a 2.25 ERA over 20.0 innings. Combined this season he has a 1.017 WHIP and 9.8 K/9. Before coming to the Mets he had a 3.86 ERA and 4.79 ERA in two seasons with the Indians so he has come into his own in the Mets organization. If he keeps this up he is looking at a 2019 arrival in Queens.
Trade 5: Eric Hanhold (Neil Walker)
Similar to Ryder Ryan making major steps forwards in the Mets organization, so did Eric Hanhold. His career ERA is a 4.93 over 235.2 innings. In Binghamton he posted a 2.84 ERA over 25.1 innings with a 1.184 WHIP. This earned him a call up to Vegas where although he allowed 9 runs over 9.0 innings, he did post a 11.0 K/9 (11.4 K/9 in Binghamton, 7.3 K/9). He is also injured now thus derailing his journey to Queens.
Trade 6: Jacob Rhame (Curtis Granderson)
Rhame may be the most well known name on this list since he has played with the Mets in 2017 and this season. Overall he has a 6.93 ERA in 24.2 innings, doing a bit a better this year with a 5.74 ERA over 15.2 innings. He was one of the better pitchers for the Mets in Vegas this year posting a 3.76 ERA over 26.1 innings. The question for Rhame: can he make the next step with Mets in the long term?
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