Mets traded ‘nasty’ pitcher an hour after taking him. Do they regret it now?

A 2.97 ERA through 72 2/3 innings (18 games) can do a lot to paint a picture of decisions and execution gone well for the New York Mets bullpen.

But for the process-driven David Stearns, their president of baseball operations, a question has emerged about someone he let go after only three hours with the organization: Did the Mets make a mistake by not keeping reliever Justin Slaten?

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Let’s rewind to Dec. 6, the day of the Rule 5 draft. That Wednesday the Mets traded Slaten, their only selection, to the Boston Red Sox immediately for lefty pitcher Ryan Ammons, a 2023 draft pick, and cash. At the time, yours truly wrote, “It was a peculiar move in that Slaten was considered “one of the buzziest names” heading into the draft, according to Baseball America, which projected him to have “very good” chances of sticking on the major league roster — and the Mets need relievers.”

It’s quite possible Stearns valued optionality, and thus Slaten, who never pitched past Triple-A with the Texas Rangers organization, was too much of a risk to hand a 26-man roster spot. The Rule 5 draft requires the drafting team to pay $100,000 to the team from which it took a player, and the player(s) must be on a team’s 26-man roster or be placed on waivers and offered back to the original team.

While the Mets’ relievers have pitched well, they have already used 13, churning the back end of their bullpen to bring in fresh arms. Plus, too much good pitching is not possible.

Meanwhile, Slaten has moved up the pecking order in the Red Sox bullpen into higher leverage roles. He has pitched 12 1/3 innings, yielding four hits, one earned run and one walk while striking out nine.

“He’s nasty, man. He’s nasty,” Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen said April 14, per Mass Live. “He mixed and matched today and used his offspeed more. He’s going to be great, man. Picking up the bullpen, especially right now. We have two big dogs down right now. And we need him.”

Slaten has done more than pick up his bullpen. He also has a save and three holds.

“Justin Slaten is the best RP on the Red Sox,” MLB analyst Thomas Nestico wrote Thursday on X. “Slaten got through 7 batters on just 24 pitches today in 2.0 IP. His efficiency has been ridiculous to start his MLB career, needing just 145 pitches in 41 PA over 12.1 IP. For the season, he has 0.73 ERA and 2.23 FIP.”

Nestico, who devised his own stuff+ model, rates Slaten’s four-seam fastball, cutter, sweeper and curveball as above-average to elite offerings.

Ammons has pitched 3 1/3 innings in Low-A. He has allowed one earned run on three hits, three walks and four strikeouts.