The New York Mets made a blockbuster trade on Thursday, acquiring the new face of their franchise in Francisco Lindor along with Carlos Carrasco.
But is this enough for them to win their division?
Lindor is a top-five player in all of baseball and instantly becomes the new face of their franchise. He joins a team that already includes the best pitcher in baseball, Jacob deGrom, and a core of young players headlined by Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso.
Carrasco is a very solid pitcher and came back after having leukemia to pitch to a 2.91 ERA in 12 games last season. The Mets’ rotation needed help, so adding a former All-Star to pitch behind deGrom, Marcus Stroman, and Noah Syndergaard is huge and isn’t getting talked about enough.
But is it enough?
That’s the big question. Adding an All-Star shortstop and a former All-Star pitcher to the roster is definitely a huge boost to a team, but there are still areas to improve.
Trevor May was a great addition to the bullpen, but it would help to add some more relievers such as Brad Hand or Liam Hendriks. The back of the rotation could be a lot better, as manager Luis Rojas would be comfortable having an actual starter pitching in the fifth game of the season instead of Seth Lugo (until Syndergaard comes back and in case Peterson struggles).
The other heavyweights in the National League
When you look at other teams in the National League, there are roughly three teams that are better than the Mets on paper: the Dodgers, Padres, and Braves.
The Dodgers are coming off of a World Series title and still have all of their major core pieces on their team. Plus, they will have an even better bullpen than they had last year. Meanwhile, the Padres now have the best rotation in baseball after acquiring Yu Darvish and Blake Snell on back-to-back days.
The Braves are going to be the Mets’ biggest competition in the NL East, and they’re more well-rounded than New York is as it stands right now. Not only is Atlanta coming off of a playoff run where they were one win away from the World Series, but they have their ace, Mike Soroka, coming back from injury and added to their rotation by signing one of the best big-game pitchers in the league in Charlie Morton. Their bullpen stepped up big for them in the playoffs in the Wild Card and Division Series and their lineup is as good as the Mets’ lineup will be.
If the Mets were to acquire an outfielder like George Springer in free agency and add another veteran starting pitcher, they would be set up to take over as the division leader, especially if the Braves can’t bring in an outfielder to replace Marcell Ozuna.
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