Marcus Stroman gripped the monkey’s paw. The Blue Jays were sellers and he wanted out. He wanted to go home, near where he grew up on Long Island. “I’m from New York and I’m a New York boy,” he had said earlier. And he wanted to play for a winning team, deep into October. “New York’s like the Mecca of the world, right? I love excitement. I love bright lights.” I want to be traded to New York, Stroman thought. And watched as one of the monkey’s fingers closed.
What in the absolute hell is going on?
The Yankees very much wanted, and needed, Stroman. The Mets, on the other hand, are five games under .500 and six games out of a wild card, and were expected to be sellers at the trade deadline. Stroman is a good young pitcher who still has another year of arbitration eligibility left, so there’s a possibility the Mets are making this move for next year, or for Stroman’s trade value in the offseason, but ... I’m skeptical. As one should be of all things Mets.
The only thing that would make sense is that this is part of a larger trade, which everyone assumes would involve Noah Syndergaard. But it’s already been reported that this deal doesn’t involve Syndergaard, and there doesn’t appear to be another deal in the works that would make it a functional three-way trade. But also: Bo Bichette just got pulled from his game at Triple-A. (Update: Bichette is just getting called up.)
So your guess is as good as mine. We’ll update as more becomes available.
Update: The Mets are sending lefty pitcher Anthony Kay and righty pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson to Toronto, per Ken Rosenthal. Kay, currently in AAA, is listed as the Mets’ No. 4 prospect by MLB.com and was their first-round draft pick in 2016. Woods-Richardson is at Class-A advanced and is the Mets’ No. 6 prospect, and was their second-round pick in 2018. Neither is on MLB.com’s list of baseball’s top 100 prospects.
Update: Hmmm.