BREAKING: Mets acquire Jesse Winker
New York has reportedly agreed on a trade for the Nationals outfielder.
As their hot play over the last two months has vaulted them toward the top of the Wild Card standings in the National League, the Mets continued to bolster their roster in the late hours on Sunday night — this time focusing on their offense.
New York has acquired left-handed hitting outfielder Jesse Winker from the Nationals, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The Mets are sending 17th ranked prospect RHP Tyler Stuart to the Nationals in exchange for Winker.
After a pair of moves prior to this addressing their bullpen, acquiring relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek over the last couple weeks, David Stearns set his eyes on the offense for the first time.
After some rough seasons bouncing around the league, Winker has had a resurgent season in Washington. In 100 games this year, the left-hander is batting .253/.372/.417 with 11 home runs, 18 doubles, 44 RBI, 14 stolen bases, a .788 OPS, a 128 OPS+ and a 1.2 fWAR.
The Winker acquisition comes after some recent speculation that New York could look to a reunion with their own former first round draft pick Michael Conforto, who has spent the last two seasons with the Giants in San Francisco. And while reuniting with a former homegrown member of the franchise would have brought plenty of good memories and warm fuzzy feelings, it just hasn’t been the greatest run for Conforto since leaving the club. In two seasons with San Francisco, the left-handed outfielder has a .716 OPS and a 101 OPS+.
The Winker acquisition gives the Mets more than they would have gotten out of Conforto at this stage of his career, which is a mix of on-base prowess, speed, grit and a little bit of pop, as well.
This acquisition should all-but mark the end of the road for DJ Stewart, who has struggled mightily this season after a flash-in-the-pan run in the second half of 2023. Despite posting an .840 OPS after the joining the club late last season, things have not gone remotely as well for the veteran outfielder throughout this season, as Stewart is hitting just .176/.332/.304/.636 with an OPS+ of 86.
It would appear that whatever magic Stewart was able to provide the Mets had all been spent late last season as the veteran outfielder has had to play far more than expected in 2024 with the injury to Starling Marte. Even if the club does decide to hold onto Stewart a little while longer and make Ben Gamel the first roster casualty, this would largely put an end to his regular playing time and would set him up to be designated for assignment if and when Marte ever returns.
The acquisition of Winker is a pretty unique heel-turn for this franchise, as the 30-year-old outfielder has been a long-standing nemesis for the Mets over the last several years. After getting into wars with the fans at Citi Field in his early days with the Reds, Winker and Mets fans have had an interesting rivalry over the years. Despite his struggles and multiple changes of scenery over the years, Winker still always seemed to deliver when it mattered most against the Mets. As recently as a few weeks ago, Winker clubbed a game-winning home run against New York in a 1-0 win for the Nationals.
It’s always weird to go from hating a player for so long to having to root for them, but the Winker rivalry has always had a bit of a wink-wink attitude to it (even if a lot of us couldn’t stand his guts as recently as this season). Something tells me that he’s going to jive really well with this fan base now that he’s on our side.
It’s also worth noting that this is the second time that David Stearns has acquired Winker in his career — just one year ago, Stearns traded for Winker when he was the general manager of the Brewers. This is a trend we’ve seen with Stearns over his first year with the Mets, bringing in other players he’s been familiar with in the past such as Tyrone Taylor and the recently DFA’d Adrian Houser.
This surely has been an exciting time to be a Mets fan, as this team has clearly earned the confidence of the organization to add to this roster in the hopes of an October postseason run. And though they’ve done well acquiring Maton, Stanek and now Winker, there is still much work to be done before the trade deadline. This club could still use a reliever or two, and now with the loss of Kodai Senga, a legitimate starting pitcher as well.