New York Mets Trade Angel Pagan to Giants, Bring in Four

The New York Mets have been on a mission today – a mission to overhaul their bullpen and give the team some much-needed depth.

Angel Pagan has been sent to the San Francisco Giants, with center fielder Andres Torres and reliever Ramon Ramirez heading to New York in return. The Mets also agreed terms with Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch. According to ESPN, Francisco’s two-year deal is worth $12 million, while Rauch’s one-year contract is for $3.5 million.

And all of this before New York Mets fans get to watch former Mets favorite Jose Reyes – the player, not the dog – officially introduced as a Miami Marlin!

Mets manager Terry Collins said:

“I think our biggest priority when we came to these meetings was to try to strengthen our bullpen. We knew we had to rebuild it. To get it done the way it happened today, I’m amazed by it. Those were three very, very good arms — power arms. It’s going to give us huge depth down there now. And I think it’s going to make a difference.”

It’s debatable if Pagan will be missed at Citi Field. Industry sources close to ESPN said his habit of consistently missing cutoff men and throwing to the wrong base irked Mets officials. But Collins kept it professional:

“We’re going to miss Angel. Played great here. But again, our target was to rebuild the bullpen and he was a piece that they wanted badly.”

Pagan took over the job of center from Carlos Beltran earlier this year, and Beltran – a mentor to Pagan for so long – shifted to right in spring training, before also getting traded to the Giants in late-July. He and Pagan are now reunited.

Do you think the Mets’ decision to spread their limited budget across multiple bullpen arms will pay off, or should they have focused on picking up one closer?