Mets Minor League Mailbag: Which prospect acquired at trade deadline gets to MLB first?

SNY contributor Joe DeMayo answers fan questions in this edition of the Mets Minor League Mailbag...

From @BillMeyer_1: Who do you think is the first one to make it to the majors from the prospects they acquired at the trade deadline?

This likely comes down to three options: Right-hander Justin Jarvis (Mark Canha trade), infielder Luisangel Acuña (Max Scherzer trade) or outfielder Drew Gilbert (Justin Verlander trade). The Mets left Jarvis off of their 40-man roster, thus leaving him eligible to be drafted in the Rule 5 Draft. If a team were to take him, he would have to stick on their 26-man roster for the entire season or be offered back to the Mets for $50,000.

If he remains with the Mets organization, he will start with Triple-A Syracuse and could at some point find his way to Queens either as a depth starter or potentially a swing-man out of the bullpen.

Acuña is already on the Mets' 40-man roster, so a call-up for him is certainly an easier move as you do not have to remove a player from the 40-man roster and potentially the organization to call him up.

Acuña did not have the best showing in his small sample size as a member of the Mets organization, but I think some are forgetting the type of talent he was when the Mets acquired him. I expect him to start in Triple-A, splitting time between shortstop and second base, and I would like the Mets to give him some reps in center field as he has the athleticism to handle it and versatility will be valuable for him.

He has plus bat-to-ball skills and could be a perennial 40-plus-stolen-base-player at the next level. If you told me Acuña was the first prospect called up from the trio, I wouldn’t argue with you.

My answer, however, will be Gilbert. Unlike Acuña he came to the Mets organization and hit the ground running with a .984 OPS for Double-A Binghamton. Gilbert can play all three outfield spots with enough range for center field and enough arm for right field.

Offensively, he has quick wrists and brings more pop to the table than you’d think from a 5-foot-9 195-pound build while showing an advanced knowledge of the strike zone. The Mets' outfield depth chart right now is Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, D.J. Stewart and maybe Jeff McNeil. Even with external additions, there is likely to be a need in the outfield during the season and Gilbert is likely to start in Triple-A and would simply be a call away.

From @danieltfried: Are the Mets in a place where they need to think about drafting for pitching needs rather than best available talent?

No. I certainly understand as you look at the Mets' top 20 prospects you do not see a pitching prospect appear on the list until No. 9 and you would certainly like a balance of pitching and hitting, but the amateur scouting department now headed by Kris Gross and Drew Toussaint need to stay on the path of getting the best available talent. Perhaps if you had the same grade on a middle infielder and a pitcher, you would lean toward the pitcher, but in baseball, you just want to add as much talent as you can and it almost always works itself out.

As high as the scouting community is on some of the Mets' top prospects, the harsh reality is not all of them will pan out in a big way. It would be a mistake for the organization to pass on a truly superior player in the MLB Draft just because they could use more pitchers.

For instance, in the 2023 draft, the Mets had Colin Houck ranked significantly higher on their board than where they got him at No. 32 overall. Had they passed on him for a lower-ranked pitcher, that simply would have been a bad process. Teams should stick to their draft boards, especially in the early rounds.

From @Dave_Schoenfeld: The Mets seem to have an abundance of infield prospects with pitching being an obvious gap. Is there a real opportunity to move some combination of them for pitching?

Often people circle back to the Jazz Chisholm for Zac Gallen trade, but those types of deals are such a perfect storm to have them work out. As Dave points out, the Mets certainly have a glut of infielders in the upper minors as well as the major leagues. Between McNeil, Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos at the big-league level and then at the minor league levels you have Acuña and Jett Williams getting closer to the big leagues with the likes of Houck and Marco Vargas also highly regarded in the lower minors.

While it may not be realistic to find that perfect prospect for prospect match like the Chisholm/Gallen deal, certainly as the Mets look to add to their starting rotation teams will be looking at the group of infielders the Mets could potentially have available. I would expect them to largely be in the free agent market to fill out the 2024 rotation.

However, when you start looking into the trade market at pitchers like Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease and maybe one of the Mariners' young arms (Bryan Woo or Bryce Miller) among others who could be available, looking at the Mets' organizational infield depth chart would probably be a wise place to start when considering potential impact pitching trades.