Mets find a center fielder in trade with Orioles for Cedric Mullins

NEW YORK (AP) — Turning their attention to offense, the New York Mets acquired center fielder Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles for three minor league pitchers before the Major League Baseball trade deadline Thursday.

The last-place Orioles received right-handers Raimon Gómez, Anthony Nunez and Chandler Marsh.

The speedy Mullins gives the Mets an all-around upgrade in center, where Tyrone Taylor was playing terrific defense but providing little offense. Versatile veteran Jeff McNeil has also been getting starts in center because of his bat, but he has much more experience at second base and the corner outfield spots.

The 30-year-old Mullins, an All-Star in 2021, can become a free agent this fall. He’s batting .229 with 15 homers, 49 RBIs, 14 stolen bases and a .738 OPS in 91 games this season — but his numbers have picked up dramatically of late.

A patient left-handed hitter, he batted .290 with three homers, seven doubles and an .868 OPS in July.

“We like the player. We like what he brings on both sides of the ball,” Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said. “We think he’s going to fit in very well to how we run the bases, how we want to play defense in center field, and so, excited to bring him on the team.”

It was the second trade in seven days between the Orioles and Mets, who obtained left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from Baltimore for a pair of minor league pitchers last Friday.

New York went all-in on a bullpen makeover Wednesday, landing All-Star reliever Ryan Helsley from St. Louis and right-hander Tyler Rogers from San Francisco in separate deals that cost the Mets six players.

“The more guys you can add back there that you have confidence in, I think the better. And hopefully now we’ve got quite a few that can get big outs for us in big spots,” Stearns said.

Helsley, Rogers and Soto also are eligible for free agency after this season.

“As we evaluated the market, the players available and what teams were looking for in return for those players, these were the deals that we thought made the most sense for us,” Stearns said. “We were certainly open and engaged on players who provided multiple years of control. But at the end of the day, these were the ones that we thought made the most sense for our team, for our organization, and really happy with the players we were able to bring in.”

To clear roster space for newcomers, the Mets transferred designated hitter Jesse Winker to the 60-day injured list and optioned reliever Chris Devenski to Triple-A Syracuse.

New York leads the NL East by a half-game over rival Philadelphia.

Mullins is in his eighth big league season, all with the Orioles. His 30-30 campaign in 2021 was a bright spot during a terrible season in Baltimore, and he remained a factor as the Orioles became a playoff team in 2023 and 2024.

Now, with the Orioles struggling, he was one of several players they dealt leading up to the deadline.

Most of the minor leaguers the Orioles acquired over the past few days are pitchers. Baltimore hasn’t developed arms as successfully as position players recently.

The hard-throwing Gómez, 23, is 5-5 with a 4.63 ERA and two saves in 24 relief appearances and three starts at High-A Brooklyn and Class-A St. Lucie this season. He threw a 104.5 mph pitch on April 26, the fastest in any ballpark equipped with Statcast technology this year, and he’s topped 103.4 mph eight times.

He was rated the No. 30 prospect in the Mets’ system by MLB.com.

Nunez, 24, is 2-1 with a 1.58 ERA and five saves in 32 outings between Double-A Binghamton and High-A Brooklyn. He has 60 strikeouts and 17 walks in 40 innings.

He was rated the No. 14 prospect in the Mets’ system by MLB.com.

Marsh, 22, is 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA and three saves in 33 appearances at High-A Brooklyn and Class A St. Lucie combined.

“Look, we believe we traded a number of players who are going to play on TV,” Stearns said, “and I hope they do.”

___

AP Baseball Writer Noah Trister in Baltimore contributed to this report.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb