The New York Mets have sent a rental player to the Miami Marlins. Following Thursday's win over the Washington Nationals (NYM 2, WAS 1), the Mets traded righty reliever David Robertson to the NL East rival Marlins for infield prospect Marco Vargas and catching prospect Ronald Hernandez, the team announced.
"It's setting in that, OK, this is the path we're going down," Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo told Newsday about being sellers. "That's never an easy pill to swallow, but you can't sit here and say that you were completely blindsided by it."
The deal came together while the Mets and Nationals waited out a 97-minute rain delay Thursday night. Robertson warmed up and readied to enter the game before the umpires called for the tarp in the bottom of the eighth inning, then lefty Brooks Raley instead entered when the game resumed.
Robertson, 38, is the second reliever the Marlins have added this week, along with righty Jorge López. Lopez came over in a minor trade with the Minnesota Twins. Robertson and López will join incumbent lefties AJ Puk and Tanner Scott and serve as Miami manager Skip Schumaker's trusted late-inning relievers. Puk has struggled of late, however.
The Mets ate significant money to facilitate their previous Eduardo Escobar and Trevor Gott trades, though they will not retain any money in the Robertson trade, according to the New York Post. He is owed approximately $3.5 million for the rest of the year. The Marlins are also hunting for the middle-of-the-order bat. Just about every infield spot other than second base can use an upgrade.
Steve Cohen's Mets selling to the small payroll Marlins is certainly ironic, but as a wise man once said, you can't predict baseball. Even with Thursday's win, New York is seven games out of a wild-card spot. The Marlins are a half-game out of a wild-card spot, though they are 2-9 since the All-Star break and fading.
Outfielders Mark Canha, Tommy Pham, and catcher Omar Narváez could be the next Mets to move. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander trades certainly aren't out of the question, though their no-trade clauses and massive $43.3 million salaries are difficult obstacles to navigate.
MLB Pipeline ranks Vargas, 18, and Hernandez, 19, the No. 18 and No. 21 prospects in Miami's farm system, respectively. Vargas is said to be an "extremely advanced hitter for his age," and Hernandez is a "steady receiver" with 12-15 homer power.
The trade deadline is Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. ET. The Los Angeles Angels have already said they will not trade Shohei Ohtani.
