The New York Mets are reportedly adding to their bullpen in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Gregory Soto in exchange for pitching prospects Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster.
Soto, 30, has made 45 appearances this season, allowing 16 earned runs and striking out 44 batters in 36 1/3 innings. He is earning $5.35 million this season and is set to become a free agent this offseason.
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The acquisition of Soto, a two-time All-Star while with the Detroit Tigers in 2021 and ’22, fits with the stated trade deadline plans of David Stearns. The Mets’ president of baseball operations said earlier this week that he wants to bring in “reinforcements” for the team’s bullpen.
“There are generally relievers traded at the deadline,” Stearns said. “And so I’m sure there will be some this year as well, and we’ll be involved in that.”
The Mets need relievers due to the multitude of injuries their bullpen has suffered this season. A.J. Minter, Dedniel Núñez, Danny Young and Max Kranick are all out for the year. The only other left-hander on the roster, Brooks Raley, came back from Tommy John surgery last week.
Through 103 games, the Mets sit atop the NL East with a half-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. They begin a six-game west coast road trip beginning Friday in San Francisco and will play San Diego starting Monday.
What to make of this trade?
A two-time All-Star closer with Detroit during its rebuild, Soto has spent the past three seasons mostly in setup roles for Philadelphia and Baltimore and has been unable to fully recapture the stretches of dominance he exhibited with the Tigers. He’s a free agent at the end of this season and is the first of several expiring contracts the Orioles are expected to deal in the coming days. His command remains shoddy at best, which can make some of his high-leverage appearances unpleasant to watch, but he still boasts premium velocity from the left side and a penchant for the punchout.
In the Mets’ bullpen, AJ Minter’s absence has left a fairly big hole that needed to be filled by a southpaw with considerable upside, and Soto fits the bill, even factoring in his flaws as a pitcher. The Mets will likely continue to add to this unit before the deadline.
As for the return, Aracena and Foster are reliever prospects on drastically different timelines. Foster is a 26-year-old who just reached Triple-A and could help this depleted Baltimore pitching staff in the next year, while Aracena is a hard-throwing 20-year-old who has overpowered A-ball hitters this season with a high-90s heater and quality slider, though his feel for control is still in the nascent stages. It’s no secret that Baltimore needs arms more than bats, so expect this to be the first of several Orioles trades that feature a handful of hurlers in return. — Shusterman
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