5 trades the New York Mets new owners can make to get fans excited

4. Josh Hader From The Milwaukee Brewers

After a horrendous first season with the Mets in 2019 (5.59 ERA), Edwin Diaz rebounded nicely this year (1.75 ERA). He was pitching so well that contending teams were calling about him at the trade deadline, but the Mets let the opportunity to sell high pass. He even pitched very well after Aug. 31 too, dropping his ERA from 2.77 to 1.75.

The Mets were in the bottom half of baseball in bullpen ERA in 2020 (4.60). Strikeouts weren’t an issue (262 in 235 innings), but the relief crew was mostly mediocre by other measures.

A couple rough outings in a short season pushed Hader’s ERA higher than it probably would have been this past season (3.79). There are also some red flags, as he threw his fastball less, with a FIP (4.03) that backed up the higher ERA as he struck out fewer batters and walked more compared to 2019. That drop in K/9 rate was from 16.4 in 2019 to 14.7 in 2020, so nearly doubling his BB/9 rate (4.7; 2.4 in 2019) is the greater concern.

But with all the potential red flags, Hader has three years of team control left via arbitration. Giving up some cheap young players or prospects might be well worth it for the Mets as they push to win-now. The Brewers can get away from what could be big arbitration raises, and get a couple pieces for a low-end prospect cupboard.