Within about three hours of news breaking that the New York Mets had made a deal with the San Francisco Giants to acquire reliever Tyler Rogers – on the same that his twin brother Taylor was also moved to the Cincinnati Reds – news broke of another significant Mets bullpen addition.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first on the news that the Mets would be acquiring Ryan Helsley from the St Louis Cardinals. In exchange, the Mets would be giving up a trio of young prospects – third baseman Jesus Baez and right-handers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt – of whom only Baez (#8) ranked in the team’s top 10 prospects.
In acquiring Helsley and Rogers, the Mets will be expecting to have added some sure-handedness to an overworked bullpen that all too often has lacked it this season, and kept pace with their most immediate rivals. Finally, the bullpen churn might slow down.
Plenty Of Experience Brought In
39 different players have pitched for the New York Mets so far this season, and only one of them was Travis Jankowski. Injuries and underachievement have seen both the back end of the starting rotation, and every part of the bullpen leading up to Edwin Diaz, be in a state of constant flux.
Bringing in Helsley and Rogers – along with Gregory Soto, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week – sees the Mets yield two former All-Star relievers, along with one who could have been, A year after his 49-save All-Star season with the Twins, Helsley has 21 more saves and an ERA+ of 140 so far in 2025, while two-time All-Star Soto is still punching out 10.9 hitters per nine innings as he enters his thirties.
Rogers, meanwhile, may be the pick of the bunch. A late bloomer who is only getting better with age, the 34-year-old submarine pitcher has thrown to a 1.80 ERA and 0.86 WHIP so far this season, giving up only four walks in 50.0 innings. Opposing hitters seem not to know where the ball will end up once it leaves Rogers’ unique arm slot, but he certainly seems to.
Mets Find Much-Needed Stability
As things stand, the Mets remain just about on top of the National League East with a 62-47 record, a mere 0.5 games ahead of their main divisional rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies themselves have been looking for a bullpen arm all season, and made their own move of note concurrent with the Helsley news by finalizing a deal for Jhoan Duran of the Minnesota Twins.
With the hot-cold nature of the Mets’ season to date, they needed some stability of their own. In bringing in three quality relievers who would find a home on any staff in the majors, they have done that, and should slow the rate of excessive roster turnover that was limiting the ceiling of what should be a very good team. The Mets might also not be done, either reported to be in the running for multiple starting pitchers, including Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins.
The Mets headed into this week knowing they needed to do something. To that end, they have already done three things. And there are still 24 hours to go. It is indeed a literal arms race, and the Mets are taking their shots.
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