What Does David Robertson Trade Mean for Mets, Marlins
David Robertson was sent to the Miami Marlins on Thursday night, providing major implications for Mets and Marlins’ Trade Deadlines (Photo by Brad Penner, USA Today)
The New York Mets and Miami Marlins struck a rare in-division trade on Thursday night, as the Mets sent reliever David Robertson to the Marlins for minor leaguers Jose Vargas and Ronald Gonzalez. The deal shows off the odd position the NL East is in this season, as the Mets, who were expected to be contenders, are most likely selling while the Marlins, who sit in a Wild Card position, added the top reliever on the market.
With Miami looking to make the postseason for the first time in three years and the Mets stuck in the middle of the pack, what does this deal mean for both teams?
Miami:
Robertson provides a strong arm to their bullpen, taking pressure off relievers A.J. Puk and Dylan Floro (Photo by Lynne Sladky, AP)
For Miami, this fortifies their bullpen significantly. The Marlins’ leading save-earners are A.J. Puk and Dylan Floro with 16 and seven respectively. However, both have ERA’s over four, with Puk pitching to a 9.95 mark over his last seven games. With Robertson, they add a bedrock to that bullpen that can close games regularly. Robertson boasts a 2.05 ERA and 14 saves in 40 games. A solid amount of his saves went over one inning as well, including a pair of two inning saves. As a result, Skip Schumaker will have a legitimate weapon available in the bullpen to finish off games, and taking that weight off Puk and Floro will take the load off those two pitchers, possibly helping them in the long run.
New York:
With the Mets seemingly selling, it puts pressure on GM Billy Eppler to make the right moves at the right time (Photo by Bill Kostroun, New York Post)
The Robertson trade strongly indicates the Mets are selling, and they did fairly well. They got two prospects that greatly help their farm system. Vargas and Hernandez sit at six and 17 on the Mets’ top 30 prospects list, respectively, and have shown signs of progress in the Florida Complex League. In 33 games, Vargas has a batting average of .283 with an OPS of .899, along with two homers and 19 RBIs. Hernandez has also greatly improved with a .298 average, .916 OPS, three homers, and 25 RBIs. While they are all a ways away from making a mark in the big leagues, each having an MLB arrival time estimate beyond 2026 on MLB.com, if they develop properly, the results will be worth it. However, one may have to question if the Mets rushed this decision and could’ve gotten more closer to Tuesday’s deadline, especially prospects that could help them sooner.
With the Mets and Marlins agreeing to the deal, all eyes on are on these two teams as 6:00 PM Tuesday approaches. The Marlins will look to complement Robertson in their bullpen and further supplement the roster, while the Mets may leaning towards selling. With under three days to go, where these teams go after the Robertson deal will mean a lot for the rest of the 2023 season.