The Mets brought Eric Young Jr. back in August 2015 for one simple reason: speed.
By then, New York already knew exactly what it was getting. Young was an athlete first and foremost, and his best tool was obvious.
In 2013, he swiped 46 bases, with 38 of them coming for the Mets and the other 8 for the Colorado Rockies, to lead the National League. When the Mets made the move for him on August 22 in a straight cash-for-player swap with Atlanta, he was sitting at .169/.229/.273, but the club still saw him as a useful late-season bench piece.
It was a strange stretch for the Mets, too. Just weeks earlier, they had also added Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe from the Braves.
Johnson and Uribe were brought in to hit and defend. Young’s job was much narrower: run, and offer a little defense when needed.
Atlanta had him in the minors at the time, but once September arrived and rosters expanded, he was back in the majors. He got an at-bat in his first game and spent a little time in right field.
On September 5, he made his only start for the Mets that season, going 0 for 3 with a run scored. After that, his role was almost entirely as a pinch runner in the middle of games.
The results at the plate never came. Young went hitless in all 9 of his plate appearances for the Mets, but he still scored 9 runs. That was the value: put a slower runner on base late, then swap him out for Young.
He was left off the playoff roster for the October run, became a free agent after the season, and made his next MLB appearance with the New York Yankees. He later saw extensive playing time with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017 and 2018. If he was hoping for playoff games, he picked the wrong team.
In Other News...
Why Would The Mets Even Consider This NL East Trade Rumor
The National League East has a way of turning even routine roster chatter into something more urgent, and this latest bit of speculation fits that pattern. A CBS Sports writer floated a scenario in which the Mets would consider moving a pitcher who has been sidelined after taking a 110-plus mph line drive off his leg, a reminder that health and timing can reshape how front offices view a player almost overnight.
The wrinkle here is the business side as much as the injury. With a $12 million player option after the season in the mix, the Mets have to weigh whether holding on makes sense if the return could be limited, especially in a division where every edge matters. Nothing has been confirmed, but the rumor underscores how quickly a contender can be pushed to think about value, risk and what happens if it waits too long. [Read more 🡒]
One Forgotten Mets Deadline Move Looks Worse With The Dodgers
The Mets spent the 2024 trade deadline trying to fortify a roster that eventually pushed deep into October, and most of the attention naturally went to the bigger swings that helped shape that run against the Dodgers. But tucked inside the deadline shuffle was a smaller move that has aged a lot more awkwardly, especially now that Los Angeles is getting some useful innings from a pitcher New York once had in its system.
Paul Gervase has given the Dodgers a bullpen option they can keep leaning on, even if the results have come with the usual rookie volatility. He has shown enough swing-and-miss to matter, but also enough control trouble to keep the story from feeling finished, which is exactly the kind of detail that makes a modest deadline deal look different in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Fans May Finally Embrace This Tyrone Taylor Trade Idea
If the Mets do decide Tyrone Taylor is movable, the return may not need to be flashy to make sense. Seattle has been sorting through its own outfield picture, and that kind of roster crunch can create openings for a deal built around depth and upside rather than a headline name. For New York, the appeal is obvious: Taylor is the sort of piece a contender can part with if it helps address another part of the roster, especially when the front office is looking for ways to keep the margins working in its favor.
The more interesting part is whether the Mets would use that kind of swap to bring in a pitcher who is close enough to matter soon, but still has some development left in the tank. With A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley no longer in the mix, there is at least a path for a left-handed arm to get a look, and Seattles system has one that has been moving through the upper levels with strong strikeout numbers and steady run prevention. The wrinkle is timing, because a pitcher in that spot can be useful to a club now, while also carrying enough roster pressure that the other side has to decide whether to hold on or make a move before the offseason changes the calculus. [Read more 🡒]