Meet the Mets
After months of waiting, Carlos Carrasco finally made his Mets debut in the series opener against the Reds last night. Outside of giving up a home run on the very first pitch of the game, he was solid for four innings, but the bullpen then proceeded to give up five runs in five innings of work. Meanwhile, the offense struggled to get anything done against Sonny Gray, and the Mets suffered a 6-2 loss.
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The trade deadline came and went yesterday, and the Mets made one big move to try to bolster their roster, acquiring shortstop Javier Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams from the Cubs in exchange for former first-round pick Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Following the trade, the Mets made a couple of roster moves to make room for their newest additions.
The Mets also got some dreadful news following the deadline yesterday, as the team announced that Jacob deGrom will be shut down for two weeks due to additional inflammation in his throwing arm.
Baez may well be a good fit in New York, but one must wonder if the Mets should have made a more forceful attempt to acquire more pitching help in the wake of deGrom’s setback.
While the Baez trade will help, it will be difficult for the Mets to overcome the impact of deGrom’s lost time.
The Mets wanted Williams in the Cubs trade in large part because of his minor league option.
In further injury troubles, Brandon Nimmo felt some discomfort in his hamstring after making a play in center field last night and is now day-to-day.
What were some of the best and worst deadline deals of all time for the Mets?
Around the National League East
Vince Velazquez struggled mightily and the Phillies only managed to get a single hit against the Pirates last night, resulting in a 7-0 loss.
Philadelphia was active at the deadline, acquiring pitchers Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy from the Rangers and shortstop Freddy Galvis from the Orioles.
The Braves scored some early runs against Corbin Burnes and the Brewers, but Milwaukee answered with two consecutive four-run innings in the third and fourth against Touki Toussaint, and Atlanta went down 9-5.
The Braves also made a flurry of moves yesterday, acquiring Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, and Richard Rodriguez.
The Marlins and Yankees were locked in a pitchers duel for much of Friday’s game, but new Yankee Anthony Rizzo hit a homer in the sixth to get the scoring started, and Miami gave up two more runs in the eighth and ultimately suffered a 3-1 defeat.
After trading half of their roster, the Nationals took on the clubs (another team who had cleaned house at the deadline) and emerged with a 4-3 victory thanks in part to homers from Luis Garcia and Josh Bell.
Washington made even more trades yesterday, with Yan Gomes, Josh Harrison, and Jon Lester amongst the Nats players to find new homes.
It is officially a new era for the Washington Nationals.
Starlin Castro was suspended without pay for thirty days for violating the league’s domestic violence policy, and the Nationals quickly announced that they would release the veteran infielder when his suspension concludes.
Around Major League Baseball
While the Mets were rumored to be interested in Kris Bryant, the former MVP wound up being traded to the Giants.
The Cubs also traded their star closer, with Craig Kimbrel heading over to the crosstown White Sox.
The Blue Jays had themselves a good day yesterday, making a few moves to bolster their roster and returning to their home stadium in Toronto.
The Yankees put the finishing touches on their exciting deadline by acquiring Andrew Heaney from the Angels.
The Rockies were surprisingly quiet at the deadline, and Trevor Story does not sound happy to still be in Denver.
With the trading deadline now behind us, what were the best and worst major trades that went down?
In incredibly rough news for the Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. suffered a partially dislocated left shoulder during last night’s game.
The baseball players in the Olympics are apparently big fans of the baseballs being used for the games there.
Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue
Vasilis Drimalitis previewed the series against the Reds and predicted the Mets would come away with two wins.
Chris McShane and Brian Salvatore discussed the trade deadline action in the latest episode of Amazin’ Avenue Audio (The Show).
Steve Sypa provided draft profiles for 18th-round draft pick Kolby Kubichek and 19th-round draft pick Drake Osborn.
Joe Sokolowski compiled the most interesting Mets-related quotes from the past week.
This Date in Mets History
Duaner Sanchez’s ill-advised cab ride which resulted in a season-ending injury to one of the team’s best relief pitchers occurred in the wee hours of the morning on this date in 2006.