Mets acquire closer Ryan Helsley from Cardinals

New York reportedly makes another huge bullpen splash, trading for the St. Louis closer.

The Mets bullpen transformation continued on Wednesday evening as the club has reportedly acquired Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley in a deal.

As first reported by Jon Heyman and Jeff Passan, the right-handed fireballer Helsley is headed to New York in the team’s second trade of the day, after acquiring right-handed reliever Tyler Rogers earlier in the afternoon from the Giants.

In exchange for Helsley, New York is parting with infielder Jesus Baez (No. 8 ranked prospect) and right-handed pitchers Nate Dohm (No. 14 prospect) and Frank Elissalt, as first reported by Anthony DiComo.

This deal marks the biggest in-season acquisition of the David Stearns era to date, as Helsley will join the club as an ace set-up man for Edwin Díaz.

While Helsley has not been as dominant as past years – his walk rate has slightly increased (3.1 BB/9 → 3.5 BB/9) while his home run rate has more than doubled doubled (0.41 HR/9 → 1.0 HR/9) – he still brings a hellacious fastball that often hits triple digits to headline an arsenal that also features a cutter, sinker, curveball, slider and change-up.

With the Cardinals this season, Helsley has a 3.00 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.39 WHIP, 10.2 strikeouts per nine, and 21 saves in 26 opportunities.

After this latest acquisition, David Stearns and the Mets have now added Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto to their bullpen in less than a week’s time. With the news on Wednesday that their main NL East competition, the Phillies, acquired star closer Jhoan Duran, this allows the Mets to keep pace as they fortify their bullpen for a second half pennant race.

New York’s bullpen now features newcomers Helsley, Rogers and Soto along with Brooks Raley, Reed Garrett, Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz.

At this point, I’d have to imagine that any additional trades the Mets make by Thursday’s 6:00 PM deadline would be to fortify their offense or starting rotation.