The trade deadline bananza continues for the Mets, who have shipped out arguably their most valuable asset in Luke Weaver. The team acquiring the veteran reliever is the Pittsburgh Pirates (a team that nobody would have expected to be a team buying from the selling Mets, but alas), and the return is middle infield prospect Sammy Stafura.
In a season where just about every single one of David Stearns’s offseason acquisitions went terribly, Weaver has been the one bright spot. The 32-year-old righty
has posted a 1.84 ERA in 42 appearances and has provided immense stability to the back of the team’s bullpen. He is also under control for next season, meaning the Mets didn’t necessarily have to trade him at the deadline, but they undoubtedly deduced that his value would never be higher and decided to capitalize on that.
Stafura is the result of that. A second-round pick out of high school in 2023, the 21-year-old is a right-handed hitter who has had time at both shortstop and second base in A and A+ ball this season. Across both levels, he has combined to put up a .276/.367/.593 slash line with 20 homers in 60 total games (albeit with a somewhat alarming 30.1% strikeout rate). As with all these deadline deals, we will want to wait to hear from credible prospect evaluators to get an up-to-date assessment of Stafura’s current outlook before fully evaluating the trade. At first glance, it does seem perhaps a bit surprising that he is the only player Stearns was able to get in the swap for Weaver, given the extra year of control at play. But in any event, the wheeling and dealing continues for the Mets.
