The Mets’ priorities at the trade deadline were the bullpen, the bullpen and also, the bullpen.
By the time 6 p.m. Tuesday hit, David Stearns had added a pair of arms to his bullpen in Huascar Brazoban and Tyler Zuber, in addition to the two he’d acquired ahead of deadline day, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton.
“It’s very quantity and quality, if we’re doing this right,” Stearns said. “I think bullpen performance is really volatile and bullpens evolve over the course of the year, the needs out of your pen evolve over the course of the year. And we’ve tried to be responsive to the needs of our pen.”
In the two bullpen deals they made Tuesday, the Mets sent minor leaguer Wilfredo Lara to Miami for Brazoban, and pitching prospect Paul Gervase back to Tampa for Zuber.
Notably, both Brazoban and Zuber have team control beyond this season, which played into the decision to go after them.
Though Stearns said the Mets have yet to decide what their roster construction will look like post-deadline, Brazoban appears to be the bigger acquisition, as he regularly pitched the seventh or eighth inning for the Marlins across 30 ²/₃ innings this season.
The 34-year-old righty, in just his third year in the majors, brings a 2.93 ERA to New York, with impressive advanced metrics. Brazoban’s fastball averages 95.7 mph and he has regularly induced soft contact, with a 51.3 percent ground-ball rate and a 3.8 percent barrel rate, per Statcast.
“He can go multiple innings, he’s got a pretty unique pitch mix and so I think he can fit a variety of roles in our pen and that can evolve as we get healthy in our pen as well,” Stearns said. “The fact that he has some roster flexibility as well is helpful.”
Zuber, a Long Island Duck as recently as this year, is more of a swing on Stearns’ part, as he’s pitched just 3 ¹/₃ innings in the majors this season with the Rays, but adds another right-handed arm that can touch 95 mph.
With all four new names in the bullpen being righties, Stearns noted the club is confident in Matt Gage, Alex Young and Danny Young — the only three lefty relievers currently on the active roster.
Zuber’s backstory — he missed nearly two full seasons with shoulder impingement syndrome — makes him a potentially compelling story if he can contribute down the stretch.
“His pitch shapes have changes, he’s made some usage adjustments,” Stearns said. “We think he’s got the ability to get both-sided hitters out. … He’s someone that, frankly, we’ve been talking with the Rays about for a couple weeks and we were able to line up today.”