The New York Mets (65-37) have been relatively quiet during this trade season but they finally made a move. Building up their success at first base the Mets have traded for first baseman Darin Ruf of the San Francisco Giants (51-52).
Ruf’s Recent Success
The Mets recently made a move to get first baseman Daniel Vogelbach from the Pittsburgh Pirates. This left the Mets with JD Davis as their right-handed hitting first baseman. With Davis having a down season and the Mets looking to win the National League East, they knew they needed to upgrade
Darin Ruf has been a solid force for the Giants these past couple of seasons. In 2021 he played in 117 games where he set multiple career highs with 71 hits, 13 doubles, 16 homers, 46 walks and 43 RBIs. He was a major factor in the Giants claiming the best record in baseball.
While the Giants have not been able to repeat their dominance, Ruf has. In 90 games he has 58 hits, 11 homers, 40 walks, 38 RBIs, but only a .216 batting average. He is well on his way to setting new career highs in multiple offensive categories again. It has been a productive season, but not as consistent as last season.
With the universal designated hitter, the Mets have a lot of opportunities to give Ruf playing time even when not at first base.
Giants Return
The Giants got a pretty sizable haul in return for Ruf. JD Davis was the biggest piece coming to the Bay, but they also received three pitching prospects in Thomas Szapucki, Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour.
As mentioned earlier, Davis has not been having that great of a season. In his fourth season with the Mets, he has only played in 66 games where he has a .238 batting average with 43 hits, eight homers and 21 RBIs.
For the Giants though they will miss the impact of Ruf, but these pitching prospects will be extremely important in the coming years as the Giants hope to get back to where they were in 2021.
The Mets are in a position to get to the playoffs and in an attempt to increase those chances they picked up first baseman Darin Ruf from the Mets. The Giants have noticed that their playoff hopes are slim so it was in their best interest to get some prosoects and let Ruf go to a playoff-caliber team.
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