The Mets kept chipping away at their bullpen overnight, sending Huascar Brazoban to the White Sox and bringing back two pitching prospects in a deal that says plenty about where this deadline push is headed.
Chicago landed the right-handed reliever, while New York received Class AA right-hander Gabe Davis and Class AAA right-hander Zach Franklin, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It was the Mets’ third trade in the past few days, following deals that sent Freddy Peralta to Tampa Bay and A.J. Minter to Minnesota.
Brazoban’s name stands out because he was not a rental. Unlike Peralta and Minter, he had three years of club control remaining after this season.
That makes the move feel a little sharper, especially after what he did in 2026. The 37-year-old late bloomer turned a strong World Baseball Classic into a major bullpen role for New York and delivered in 46 games this season, going 5-2 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.01 WHIP.
He also posted 1.6 Wins Above Replacement and struck out 49 batters in 52.2 innings.
Still, age matters here. Brazoban will turn 37 in October, so those years of control don’t carry quite the same weight they would for a younger pitcher. The Mets appear to have treated this as a sell-high opportunity, banking on the idea that his value may never be higher than it is right now.
The headliner coming back is Davis, a 6-foot-9 starter the White Sox took in the fifth round in 2025 out of Oklahoma State. He’s also a collegiate teammate of current Mets Carson Benge and Nolan McLean.
Davis is working at Double-A Birmingham, where the results have been rough so far - he’s 0-5 with an 8.31 ERA in 10 starts - but his tools still pop. At High-A Winston-Salem, he showed strong command with a 70:24 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 62 innings.
He’s got a fastball that can reach 100 miles per hour and a plus slider, though finding a third pitch will be the key if he’s going to stick as a starter.
Even if he ends up in relief, Davis gives the Mets something useful: upside and a live arm for the pipeline. MLB Pipeline had him ranked 18th in Chicago’s top 30.
Franklin is the other piece, and he brings a different kind of profile. He didn’t crack Chicago’s top 30, but he’s close to big-league ready with Triple-A Charlotte.
His line there is 2-2 with a 4.37 ERA in 33 appearances, but the strikeout numbers are what jump out: 60 strikeouts against 14 walks in 45.1 innings. He’s also Rule 5 Draft-eligible this winter, which means the Mets would have to put him on the 40-man roster to keep him protected.
For a club that has said it wants to contend in 2027, moving a reliever with this much control left does look a little odd on the surface. But the Mets chose youth and upside over certainty, and with bullpen openings likely coming, Franklin could be on the fast track to Flushing sooner than later. The return doesn’t bring back a premium prospect, but given Brazoban’s age and role, it may be as strong a haul as New York could reasonably get.
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Mets Just Sent A Bigger Trade Deadline Message Than Fans Expected
The Mets continued to reshape their roster ahead of the trade deadline by moving reliever Huascar Brazobn, a pitcher who still had three seasons left on his contract, in a deal with the White Sox. In return, New York picked up two minor league arms, Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin, both prospects with limited major league experience.
It is the kind of swap that says plenty about where the club is headed right now. Brazobn had been part of the bullpen picture, but the Mets chose to turn a controllable arm into younger pitching depth as they keep working through deadline decisions, and the next moves will say even more about how aggressively they plan to retool. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Deadline Catching Move Could Signal Something Bigger
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For New York, the deal is notable not just for the arm coming back, but for what it says about how the front office viewed the rest of the market. Rortvedts value to the Dodgers was rooted in his familiarity with the club and the stability he provided during last years injury-hit stretch, and moving him now suggests the Mets were willing to turn a useful depth piece into a return they felt better matched their needs down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Deadline Purge Is Already Hitting Familiar Names
The Mets' deadline reshuffling has already started to put a familiar feel to the churn, with the front office turning over pieces and bringing in prospect capital as the trade market heats up across the league. New York sent Freddy Peralta to the Tampa Bay Rays and moved Huascar Brazobn to the Chicago White Sox, part of a broader stretch of deadline activity that saw clubs around baseball making their own swaps and roster changes before the clock runs out.
On the roster side, the Mets also made room by promoting Robert Stock and Bryce Conley while designating Kevin Herget and MJ Melendez for assignment. For a team trying to thread the needle between present depth and future value, these are the kinds of decisions that can reshape the bullpen and the organizational picture in a hurry, even if the final ripple from this purge is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]