Grading the SF Giants trade of Tyler Rogers to the New York Mets

The SF Giants made three trades at the trade deadline. This includes sending Tyler Rogers to the New York Mets in exchange for Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, and José Buttó. How did they do in that deal?

Grading the SF Giants trade of Tyler Rogers to the New York Mets

I will caution that grading trades so quickly after the trade deadline can often be an exercise in futility. The full impact of the deal may not be realized for years.

Overall grade: B

What I liked

I think both sides did well in this deal. The Mets added one of the better relievers in baseball in Rogers, and the Giants received a trio of players. Rogers is on an expiring contract, so it made sense for the Giants to move him now if they did not plan on competing in the final two months of the year.

The Giants got three functional roster pieces in this deal. If there ever was a type with the Giants' new front office, it is a player like Drew Gilbert. He offers a nice line-drive swing with good contact skills. That latter is a skill that the front office is trying to build from the bottom up.

Gilbert is hitting .256/.358/.458 (114 wRC+) with 14 home runs, 54 RBI, and 50 runs in 392 plate appearances. This includes an 11.5 percent walk rate, 16.1 percent strikeout rate, and .202 ISO. The left-handed has above-average contact skills, with an 87.6 percent in-zone contact rate.

The raw power is limited, as the 24-year-old hitter has an average exit velocity of 88.9 MPH. He does a nice job of getting the most out of that power with a swing that lifts and pulls the ball in the air regularly.

Gilbert has experience at all three outfield positions, and is capable of sticking in center field. He is an average runner, but makes up for that with good jumps and reads. Gilbert has a strong arm.

The left-handed bat has the tools to become a quality fourth outfielder, with the possibility of becoming an everyday player. He is not currently on the 40-man roster, but is eligible for the Rule 5 draft in the winter. He already looks like a better fit than many of the outfielders on the 40-man roster.

Blade Tidwell and José Buttó are on the 40-man roster. Tidwell was a second-round pick by the Mets in 2022 out of the University of Tennessee. He was a college teammate with Gilbert, but they split up when Gilbert was taken in the first round of the 2022 draft by the Houston Astros. He rejoined Tidwell in the Mets organization in the deal that sent Justin Verlander to the Astros in 2023.

Tidwell has a big arm with a starter's pitch mix. He throws a mid-90's four-seam fastball that gets plenty of riding action up in the zone. He also mixes in a sinker that has potential. These pitches give hitters a different look with his fastball.

The right-handed pitcher also has a low-80's sweeper, a harder slider that sits in the mid-80's, and a low-80's changeup. The sweeper is arguably his best secondary pitch, as it has a 42.3 percent whiff rate this year. The changeup has some upside as well. There is a 13-MPH difference between his fastball and changeup, so it has the change in velocity that can make it effective. He has generated a 39.2 percent whiff rate with that pitch this year.

While Tidwell has the stuff to be a starter, he has below-average command. That could limit him to a bullpen role down the road, but for now, the Giants will continue working him out as a starter. Similar to Carson Seymour, Tidwell is already built up to handle a heavy workload.

The last part of the deal is José Buttó. Buttó is an experienced reliever, but is out of options. He has a 3.44 ERA across 167.2 innings in the majors. He throws a mid-90's four-seamer with a slider that sits in the mid-80's. The slider is an effective pitcher, as opposing hitters have recorded a .194 batting average against it this season. That pitch also has a 40.4 percent whiff rate. Buttó has below-average control and an average strikeout rate, so he is likely limited to middle relief duties.

What I did not like

David Stearns has been the Mets' president of baseball operations since 2024. He moved three players who were holdovers from the previous regime, so there was no emotional attachment in the deal.

While the Giants got three players with some upside, it felt like there was no true centerpiece to the deal. The Mets dealt three players that they were comfortable moving for one of the better relievers on the market. It felt like the Giants did really well in this trade, but it also felt like they could have gotten better value by pushing for one of the team's better prospects instead.