The New York Mets didn’t do a lot of winning this season.
One move they made, though, already looks like a victory — at the expense of the Chicago Cubs.
The teams were moving in opposite directions ahead of the August 3 MLB trade deadline, and so they made sense as trading partners.
The Mets sent two MLB players to the Cubs for one promising prospect. And now that the Cubs have been eliminated after just two games in the playoffs, it’s looking like New York probably got the better half of the deal.
Mets-Cubs Trade
The Mets and Cubs agreed to a deal just before the deadline.
It sent right-handed pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor to the Cubs in exchange for infield prospect Jefferson Rojas.
The idea made sense for the Cubs at the time. A year of pitching injuries led to them seeking out more starters, and they got both Holmes and Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays) before the deadline.
Taylor was having a surprisingly strong year for the Mets and has always hit well against left-handed pitching, so he was a solid asset to add, too.
But as it turns out, after the Cubs ensured they’d be in the playoffs, they didn’t stick around very long:
The Mets got Jefferson Rojas, now their top prospect, from the Cubs for Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor at the trade deadline.
Chicago was swept by the Padres in the Wild Card Series. Holmes was on the roster, but didn’t pitch. Taylor was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit single in Game 2.…
— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) October 1, 2026
The Mets made the trade in large part because they likely wouldn’t have Holmes or Taylor around after this season anyway.
So to get a good prospect out of the deal has the potential to work out quite nicely.
It’s hard to fault the Cubs, but it didn’t age well.
Jefferson Rojas
The key to the final outcome will be how good a player the infield prospect Rojas can become.
He’s a 21-year old infielder from the Dominican Republic.
This season, Rojas spent most of the year at Double-A — with the Cubs’ affiliate in Knoxville and then the Mets’ affiliate in Binghamton. He then got six games to end the year at Triple-A Syracuse.
In 91 games with Knoxville, Rojas had a .799 OPS that included 19 doubles and 15 home runs, and he also stole 17 bases.
He got hot once arriving in Binghamton and put up a .929 OPS in 29 games with eight doubles, a triple and nine homers.
Then in six games to close the season at Syracuse, Rojas went 8-for-26 with a double and three home runs.
His 27 homers this season across the three teams was by far his career-best for the minor leagues — it had previously been 11.
If the growth into this power is legitimate, Rojas has a chance to be a star at the MLB level. The Mets will be glad to have him, while the Cubs will surely miss him.
Mets Swindled Cubs in Trade