By Chad Jennings, Will Sammon and Tim Britton
Entering the trade deadline in need of both another left-handed bat and a center fielder, the New York Mets have accomplished just that in acquiring Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles, the Mets announced Thursday afternoon.
In exchange, New York is sending right-handed minor-league relievers Raimon Gomez, Chandler Marsh and Anthony Nuñez to Baltimore.
The Mets had publicly identified center field as their likeliest target for offensive improvement this deadline, as Jose Siri has been out since mid-April and Tyrone Taylor hasn’t approached his typical production with the bat.
While Mullins represents improvement there, he’s an imperfect fit. The Mets have struggled more against lefties than righties, and the lefty-swinging Mullins has traditionally done the same. (To his credit, he’s posting a career-best .866 OPS against lefties this season.) Following a scorching April, Mullins slumped to a .169 average over May and June. Like fellow Mets target Luis Robert Jr., though, he’s had a nice July, including four two-hit games in the last week.
Although Mullins’ defensive numbers are down this season, he has long been one of the game’s better center fielders, especially adept at snagging would-be home runs at the wall, as he did earlier this week. In all, Mullins is a solid everyday center fielder. He’s not the All-Star he was earlier in his career, but he remains a good base runner, a league-average hitter and a decent defender. His combination of speed and left-handed power has kept him productive in recent years.
A 13th-round pick in 2015, Mullins made his big league debut in 2018 when the Orioles lost 115 games, and he stuck around to become a source of stability while the Orioles incorporated younger players and became a playoff team. Mullins was an All-Star in 2021, worth 6.0 fWAR in his first full season in the big leagues. He hit 30 homers and slugged .518 that year. The past three years, though, he’s been closer to a 2.0 WAR player while typically slugging a little over .400. He’s still top 30 at the position, but not the standout he used to be. His offensive production has remained fairly steady over the past four seasons, but his defensive metrics have dipped, especially this year.
Although Mullins has been a mainstay with the Orioles — the last holdover from a brutal era in franchise history — his time in Baltimore was nearing an end regardless. At 30 years old, Mullins is due to become a free agent for the first time this offseason.
Heading back to Baltimore are three right-handed relievers. Gomez throws as hard as anyone in the minors, with a fastball that has touched 105 mph. Back this season after Tommy John surgery, Gomez began the year as a starter (where the Mets believed he could hold triple-digit velocity multiple times through an order) but shifted to the pen by May. After a promotion to High-A Brooklyn, he’s been hit around to a high-six ERA.
Núñez is a developmental success story for New York. Drafted out of high school as a position player by the Padres in 2019, Núñez was released in 2021 and decided to go back to college at the University of Tampa, where, in his junior season, he transitioned to the mound. The Mets signed him last summer and watched him blossom this season into one of their best-performing relievers in the minors on the strength of an outstanding slider. The 23-year-old has posted a 1.58 ERA and 40 percent strikeout rate between High A and Double A.
Marsh went undrafted last summer out of Georgia before the Mets signed him. The 22-year-old was dominant in a brief stint in A ball this year and has held his own since a promotion to High-A Brooklyn.
In four trades this month, the Mets have brought in significant value without moving a consensus top-10 prospect in the system. And they’ve cleared out some room from an impending 40-man logjam this winter: Blade Tidwell was already on the 40-man, and Drew Gilbert, Gomez and Núñez all would have been eligible in the Rule 5 draft if not added this fall.
Trade grade
Mets: B-
Orioles: B+
Cody Stavenhagen: The Mets needed a center fielder, and Mullins represents a clear offensive upgrade (105 OPS+) over Taylor (60 OPS+). He walks more and hits for far more power. That alone makes this a win for the Mets.
Interestingly, though, the Mets currently rank 20th in OPS against left-handed pitching. The left-handed Mullins has crushed lefties to the tune of an .866 OPS this season, but that’s not at all his career norm. He has a .662 career OPS versus LHP.
Mullins’ center-field defense has also fallen off significantly as he’s gotten older. He’s been worth -13 defensive runs saved this year; Taylor is worth plus-eight. Mullins at least grades out more favorably in the outs above average metrics, where he is worth plus-two. Mets pitchers combine for the second-highest groundball rate in the league, so perhaps the defense is a tradeoff they are willing to live with? Mullins is a former All-Star and a dynamic player at his best, but he’s been worth only 0.1 bWAR this season.
The Orioles get three players in return for a rental hitter. Nuñez is the best of the bunch. He has nasty stuff and is averaging 13.5 K/9 in the minors this season. He has high upside as a reliever, and that alone makes this a fair return. We’d also be remiss not to mention that Gomez has a fastball that has topped out at an absurd 104.5 mph. He’s a raw but exciting talent in need of polishing.
(Photo: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
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