The Mets continue to load up in the late innings. New York announced the acquisition of Ryan Helsley from the Cardinals for infield prospect Jesus Baez and minor league pitchers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. It’s the third relief pickup of the week for the Mets, who had already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from Baltimore and paid a hefty price to get submariner Tyler Rogers from the Giants. They had an opening on the 40-man roster, so there was no corresponding move.

Helsley adds another power arm to the late innings. His fastball sits above 99 MPH on average. Opponents have nevertheless had a field day against the heater this season, batting .406 and slugging .522. They’ve had no success against Helsley’s upper 80s slider, which he turns to as often as he goes to the fastball. The end result is an even 3.00 earned run average across 36 innings. The righty has fanned an above-average 26.1% of batters faced behind a massive 16.1% swinging strike rate.

This is Helsley’s fourth consecutive season of strong production. He first assumed the Cardinals’ closing role in 2022 and has successfully nailed down 103 saves out of 121 tries over the past three-plus years. Helsley posted a 2.45 ERA or better in each season from 2021-23. He began this season a little slowly, allowing 3.60 earned runs per nine with eight walks and 10 strikeouts through the end of April. He has reeled off a 2.77 ERA with plus strikeout (27.4%) and walk (5.3%) percentages going back to May 1.

After a few seasons in the ninth inning, Helsley will move to a setup role in Queens. He’ll likely be Carlos Mendoza’s top leverage arm in the bridge to Edwin Díaz. Rogers may not be far behind him in the pecking order. Helsley and Rogers are each excellent relievers but couldn’t be more different stylistically. Mendoza will have a few different looks in what now seems to be one of the deepest bullpens in the game. Reed Garrett, Ryne Stanek and Soto all bring plus velocity in the middle relief group.

The 31-year-old Helsley is playing on an $8.2MM salary for his final season of arbitration. The Mets will pick up the remaining $2.65MM. They’re taxed at a 110% rate on all expenditures, so they’ll pay nearly $3MM in taxes on top of the money owed to Helsley. It’s an approximate $5.6MM investment. Helsley will be a free agent at season’s end. That’s also true of Stanek, Rogers, Soto and probably Díaz (who can opt out of the remaining two years and $37MM on his contract). New York holds a club option on southpaw Brooks Raley. There’ll be a lot of turnover next season, but it’s a high-octane group for the stretch run.

The Mets are loading up at the same time as the Phillies are dealing two highly-regarded prospects for Minnesota’s star closer, Jhoan Duran. Philadelphia is percentage points above New York in what should be a fantastic NL East race. The Mets have also been linked to center field upgrades — Luis Robert Jr., most prominently — and could turn their attention to the lineup over the final 22 hours before the deadline.

On the other end, the Cardinals are parting with a player who has spent a decade in the organization. Helsley was a fifth-round pick in 2015 and has spent parts of seven seasons with the big league club. The Cardinals curiously opted not to trade him last offseason despite cutting payroll and viewing 2025 primarily as an evaluation year for their young players. St. Louis hung around the playoff mix for a while, but an 8-15 record in July has sealed their fate as deadline sellers.

Helsley acknowledged last week that a trade was coming. While he’d spoken a few times about wanting to sign an extension with St. Louis, the team never seemed to reciprocate the interest. They weren’t especially likely to make him a qualifying offer that should land north of $22MM. (Teams cannot make a QO to players acquired midseason, so the trade ensures that Helsley will hit free agency unencumbered.) The Cards have dropped close to .500 and sit five games back in the Wild Card picture, making a trade inevitable.

In all likelihood, they’re getting a slightly lesser return than they would have received had they shopped Helsley over the winter. Baez, a 20-year-old infielder, is the headliner. He placed in the back half of the Mets’ top 10 prospects at both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs slotted him 15th in his organizational writeup last June.

The righty-hitting Baez impresses evaluators with his bat speed and contact skills. That comes with a tendency to expand the strike zone that alarms some scouts, though, and Baez is not expected to have the requisite athleticism to stick at shortstop. He’s a potential regular at third base who remains at least a couple years from big league readiness. Baez is playing in a pitcher-friendly setting in High-A, batting .242/.332/.390 with 10 home runs and a lower than average 16.3% strikeout rate.

Dohm, a 6’4″ right-hander, was New York’s third-round pick last summer. The Mississippi State product has combined for a 2.87 ERA with a near-29% strikeout rate in 18 starts in the low minors. He ranked 14th in the system at MLB Pipeline but was further down at BA (25th) and FanGraphs (42nd). Dohm battled forearm injuries in college and faces some durability questions. He leans most heavily on a potential plus fastball while mixing in a slider and curveball. There’s a decent chance he’ll wind up in relief, but the Cards will presumably continue developing him as a starter.

Ellisalt was New York’s 19th-round pick last summer. FanGraphs ranked him 43rd in the system, writing that his fastball/slider combination gives him a shot to be a middle reliever if his command becomes passable. He’s a 23-year-old reliever with a 3.04 ERA and strong 29% strikeout rate against younger competition between two A-ball levels.

This’ll be the first of multiple subtractions from the St. Louis bullpen. Impending free agents Phil Maton and Steven Matz should both be moved. Lefty JoJo Romero has an additional season of arbitration control but could be dealt as well. None of those players will command as strong a return as Helsley did, but the Cards could add a few more mid-tier prospects to the farm system by tomorrow evening.