The Mets had high hopes when they acquired Tyler Rogers from the Giants prior to the trade deadline.
It’s why they were willing to pay what noti.group’s Jon Heyman described as “a heavy price” to get the right-handed reliever, shipping right-hander José Buttó and pitching prospect Blade Tidwell, along with outfield prospect Drew Gilbert to San Francisco.
Rogers has been solid in Queens so far, but he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Gilbert has shown the kind of flash teams fear when they let go of a young player.
After opening his MLB career with the Giants just 3-for-31 with 10 strikeouts and one extra-base hit, Gilbert has been on fire.
The 24-year-old is 10-for-19 with no strikeouts and six extra-base hits in his last six games.
The fiery Gilbert has helped spark a Giants team that sold at the deadline and was left for dead after falling seven games under .500 on Aug. 22 following a four-game losing streak — with the June trade for Rafael Devers looking worse by the day.
Since then, though, the Giants have lost just once in 11 games to climb within four games of the Mets for the final wild-card spot — and Gilbert is a significant reason for the turnaround.
Former Met Dominic Smith, in a story in The Athletic, called the 5-foot-9 Gilbert, “like, if you put a lightning bolt in a little ball.’’
Another new teammate, infielder Casey Schmitt, told the site, “He’s like a little ball of fire just waiting to explode. We love it.”
And Willy Adames added of Gilbert, “He shows up every day like he has new batteries … People are acting like, ‘How do you get so much energy? Where do you get it from? Like, give us something. Whatever you’re taking, we want some, too.’”
It’s not that the Mets didn’t see similar traits from the player they acquired, along with Ryan Clifford, from the Astros in exchange for Justin Verlander at the trade deadline in 2023.
Prior to being included in the Rogers deal, Gilbert had put himself in the conversation as a potential call-up from Triple-A Syracuse.
Although questions remained about his bat, there was thought the lefty-swinging Gilbert could serve as part of a platoon with right-handed Tyrone Taylor.
And his .990 OPS in July was Gilbert’s highest mark of any month this season.
But he ended up headed to the Giants and after a week with Triple-A Sacramento, Gilbert was in the majors.
He’s also made a name for himself with some home run celebrations.
“I feel like it’s kind of something that turns on once you’re in the heat of the competition,” Gilbert said. “I think I’m a little bit different off the field, but when you’re competing to win, emotions come out. I think it’s fun to get a good group of guys to make it easy to kind of come out of my shell and be who I am.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
