Mets Slammed By Insider For Tyler Rogers Trade: ‘Biggest Overpay’

Trade deadlines are all about risk and reward, and the New York Mets certainly entered the proceedings with a high-rolling attitude this season.

The Mets brought in three relievers to overhaul their bullpen, plus a new center fielder in Cedric Mullins. That necessitated the exits of 11 players, most of whom were prospects.

Trading prospects is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was the caliber of prospects given away in the trade for ex-San Francisco Giants reliever Taylor Rogers that raised some eyebrows.

On Monday, Jim Bowden of The Athletic called the Rogers trade the “biggest overpay” of the entire deadline, as New York sent outfielder Drew Gilbert and pitchers Blade Tidwell and José Buttó to San Francisco.

“Trading three future major-league players (Buttó joined the Giants and is controllable through 2030) for a two-month rental seemed like an overpay, especially if Gilbert develops into an everyday player. I thought dealing two of those three for Rogers would have been fair,” wrote Bowden.

Tidwell and Gilbert now rank as the 12th and 13th-best prospects in San Francisco’s system, according to MLB Pipeline. Both are in Triple-A and could debut before the season ends.

So was the Rogers trade really an overpay? There are good arguments to be made on both sides.

Certainly, Tidwell and Gilbert could eventually develop into stars, as they were two of the more highly regarded prospects traded at the deadline. And the fact that Buttó has already seen success as a major league reliever makes it seem as though the Giants could replace a lot of Rogers’ production that they would have lost in free agency.

But the Mets also didn’t touch their true blue-chippers, Top 100 prospects like Jett Williams, Jonah Tong, and Carson Benge. How many farmhands does a team with a checkbook as thick as the Mets’ really need?

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