Who might the perfect upgrade in center field be for the Mets?
Also, the Mets won their sixth straight game on Saturday night
Check out The Just Mets Trade Deadline Guide (paid subscribers only) — a breakdown of over 50 potential trade targets the Mets could pursue by July 31st.
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets won again yesterday, narrowly edging out the Giants 2-1 (box)
LHP David Peterson managed to keep the damage to a minimum, surrendering just one run on eight hits. He walked three Giants and struck out four
3B Mark Vientos provided the winning runs with a two-run double in the sixth
1B Pete Alonso put on another defensive show, including a leaping grab in the ninth to seal the game
RF Juan Soto stole his 14th base of the year and RHP Edwin Díaz picked up his 22nd save of the season
The offense struggled to capitalize on poor defense from San Francisco, stranding ten men on base and going just 2-for-11 with RISP
The Mets maintained their 0.5-game lead over the Phillies for first in the NL East. They’ve won six in a row, are 19-12-3 in series, 6-9-2 in series on the road, 15-29 when scoring three or fewer runs, are 6-2 since the All-Star Game, and 15-6 vs the NL West
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Chris Devenski was outrighted to Syracuse
Who’s Hot 🥵
Over his last 30 games, Starling Marte is hitting .340/.406/.479 with two homers, eight RBI, nine walks, and two swipes
Edwin Díaz has not allowed a run since June 2nd; he has a 0.00 ERA with a 0.60 WHIP across 10.0 IP in July
Play of the Game 🌟
While Pete continued his defensive hot streak, today, a different hero gets the spotlight.
Mark Vientos’s struggles at the plate this season are no secret, especially in big moments. Heading into Saturday’s contest, Vientos was hitting .143/.253/.317 with RISP, driving in just 19 runs in 75 chances with a 31% K rate. Not great.
But with the Mets trailing in the sixth with two outs and runners at second and third, none of that mattered.
After Giants LHP Robbie Ray issued walks to Soto and Marte, Vientos stepped into the box. On Rays’s 102nd pitch of the night, Vientos smoked an 0-1 slider straight down the third-base line that hung up in the corner and briefly trickled away from Giants LF Heliot Ramos, allowing Marte to score easily and Vientos to walk into second standing up.
Those two runs were (thankfully) all the Mets would need to secure their sixth straight win.
Down on the Farm 🌾
DH Joey Meneses (Triple-A): 2-for-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI
LHP Jonathan Santucci (No. 13 prospect, Double-A): 5.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
RF Ryan Clifford (No. 7 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 K
3B Jacob Reimer (No. 6 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2R, 1 BB, 1 K
3B Jesus Baez (No. 8 prospect, High-A): 1-for-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (61-44) vs. Giants (54-51)
Where: Oracle Park - San Francisco, CA
Starters: RHP Kodai Senga (7-3, 1.79 ERA) vs. LHP Matt Gage (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: ESPN
Harrison Bader is the perfect CF upgrade candidate ✍️
Fine, I’ll say it: I’d strongly prefer that Stearns & Co. not trade for White Sox CF Luis Robert Jr.
Call me crazy (I’m not, because he doesn’t make the Mets better right now).
I get the Robert appeal, trust me: he’s a power-and-speed threat that plays excellent defense, is walking a lot, and lights up lefties. However, he’s also been a .647 OPS player the last two seasons. Even though he has all the tools and is a prime change-of-scenery candidate, Robert’s severely underwhelming performance the past two seasons has chipped away at my faith in a proper bounce back.
Despite being just two years removed from an All-Star campaign that saw him smash nearly 40 home runs, Robert’s fall off has been nothing short of precipitous. That 2023 campaign saw him post a 4.9 fWAR; he’s managed just 0.5 in each of the last two seasons. While he’s walking more than he ever has, he’s still striking out at a 30% clip, and has suffered dips in SLG, ISO, BABIP, wOBA — I’ll stop.
Another smaller, but still present, concern I have about Robert involves an apparent right groin injury that has kept him out of action for the last few days, and that’s on top of a hamstring injury that sidelined him in June. Despite a crazy hot streak since coming back from the All-Star break, I’m just not sure I’m comfortable trading for a freshly injured outfielder.
Now, current Twins CF and former OMG! New York Met Harrison Bader on the other hand…
Bader’s 2025: 91 G, 256 AB, .250/.333/.434, 64 H, 12 HR, 38 RBI, 9 SB, 75 K, 26 BB, 109 OPS+
Robert’s 2025: 84 G, 286 AB, .206/.293/.636, 59 H, 10 HR, 41 RBI, 26 SB, 95 K, 35 BB, 78 OPS+
After a solid 2024 in Queens, Bader is having a fantastic season. Though he’s striking out more this year than he did last year, he’s nearly doubled his walk rate (from 4.8% in 2024 to 8.9% in 2025) and he’s rocking a .767 OPS, a vast improvement on last season’s .657 mark. His .304 BABIP and .184 ISO are also both marked improvements from 2024, and he’s brought his OPS+ up by 20 points. Strikeouts notwithstanding, all of those trends are encouraging.
Yes, Robert’s been very hot recently, and Bader less so, but looking across a larger sample size, I think I’d feel safer taking a risk on the latter than the former.
With Bader, you maintain the pop and defense you also get from Robert (admittedly sacrificing some ceiling), with more consistent hitting and half the price tag. Literally — Robert’s deal comes with a $20M club option attached in ‘26, then again in ‘27; Bader has a mutual option worth $10M for the 2026 season and nothing more.
A big reason I keep being given for the desire to sign Robert is his slash line against southpaws, and for good reason: he’s hitting .294 against them this year, with five homers, 13 RBI, 13 walks, and just 18 strikeouts. However, those numbers represent just 85 plate appearances. In his 243 other plate appearances against righties, he’s hitting .179 with five homers, 28 RBI, and 21 walks against 77 strikeouts. That’s a pretty extreme split.
Bader, on the other hand, offers much more predictability:
Bader against LHP in 2025: 85 PA, .250/.329/.474, 5 HR, 14 RBI, 9 BB, 20 K, 124 wRC+
Bader against RHP in 2025: 206 PA, .250/.335/.417, 7 HR, 25 RBI, 17 BB, 46 K, 112 wRC+
If the goal is to upgrade the center field position with a capable defender who can produce at the plate and handle lefties, Bader is more than qualified.
So, what would it take to get this done?
Looking at their roster, the Twins could use some pitching help: four of their prospects are in the Top 100, but none of them are pitchers, and while they have arms down on the farm, most of them aren’t projected to make a big league impact until 2027. They’ve also taken some hits to their MLB rotation recently, with RHP Bailey Ober, RHP David Festa, and LHP Anthony Misiewicz all landing on the IL in the past month.
Considering the Mets’ relative wealth of minor league pitching talent, it feels only fair that they offer up another prospect arm (or two?) to get Bader back into the fold. Consider the likes of RHP Jonathan Pintaro, who this year, despite a tough outing in his only MLB appearance, has posted a 3.50 ERA with 74 strikeouts over 16 games for Double-A and Triple-A. Or would maybe say, RHP Dom Hamel do the trick? Though he struggled mightily in his first year at Triple-A in 2024, Hamel has shown improvement this year out of the bullpen, dropping his ERA from 6.79 to 4.38 in the 51 innings he’s thrown. Both Pintaro and Hamel are equipped with plus-grade pitches, and with each sitting above 10 K/9 in the Minors (10.03 K/9 for Hamel, 12.33 for Pintaro), the on-paper potential is through the roof, and MLB service time is a stone’s throw away.
I don’t know, don’t yell at me — there’s a reason I’m not a GM. What I do know is that Harrison Bader would be a perfect fit for this Mets lineup, both in terms of on-the-field fit and storytelling appeal.
You guys are sickos like me. You remember his heartfelt farewell post on Instagram.
There’s a job that needs to be finished.
Around the League 🚩
Dick Allen, Dave Parker, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, and former Met Billy Wagner will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame today. The ceremony will be streamed on MLB.TV at 1:30 PM ET
The Yankees acquired former Mets shortstop Amed Rosario from the Nationals in exchange for two prospects
The Diamondbacks stayed busy before the deadline, shipping OF Randal Grichuk to the Royals for RHP Andrew Hoffman
Mariners C Cal Raleigh hit his 40th home run of the season, becoming the seventh catcher ever to do so
The Blue Jays won their MLB-best 63rd game, defeating Detroit 6-1 as RHP Kevin Gausman struck out 10 Tigers
Phillies 1B Bryce Harper hit his 15th homer of the year as Philly toppled the Yankees again, 9-4
I like the Bader move too. He was here last year and knows there’s unfinished business. It looks like Stearns is staying away from the top of the prospect pool with his trades and I feel he has a plan for most of the kids not here yet. I dunno if a top line starter is coming. I’ve said it for awhile now I’m done with the Megil as a starter experiment and he should be transitioned to the pen. His brother is the closer now for the Brewers and having a great season. Megil should now follow that path or he could be a trade piece. Until he proves otherwise. In Stearns I trust. Let’s get the sweep with Senga today. Thankfully the game is at 7 although it’s on ESPN with those idiots who I can’t stand listening to. LGM
I like the idea of Bader. He’d be an upgrade. Remember last season though when he lost playing time to Taylor because Taylor was hitting better. Robert intrigues me still depending on the cost. 2 more years of team options seems like something Stearns would like.