Reds trade looks smarter by the day while Mets search for answers they once had

Every December, baseball fans receive little gifts. Sometimes it’s a new bullpen arm. Sometimes it’s a free-agent splash. And sometimes it’s the kind of petty satisfaction Cincinnati Reds fans can enjoy with a warm drink: watching an old New York Mets deadline deal age like milk.

The 2022 swap where the Mets got Tyler Naquin (plus Phillip Diehl) and Cincinnati took home teenage outfielder Héctor Rodríguez (and righty Jose Acuña) is turning into the kind of trade Mets fans would love to delete from existence. It was officially announced on July 28, 2022, and it was very much a “help us right now” move for a contender. 

The problem? “Right now” didn’t really happen.

Reds prospect Héctor Rodríguez surged in 2025, and it's reopening an old Mets wound

Naquin had given the Mets 49 games of low morale — only a .203 batting average in New York City. The follow-up show was even more bizarre: In 2023 with the Chicago White Sox Naquin struggled; and in 2025, he attempted to revive his career as a reliever for the Cleveland Guardians in the minor leagues, but could muster no better than a 6.16 ERA at that level. Then on November 6, 2025 Naquin exercised his right to become a free agent.

Meanwhile, Rodríguez is doing the exact thing you want a 21-year-old prospect to do when everyone’s paying attention: make noise.

In the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM), he’s slashing .282/.355/.455, with loud contact that actually matches the stat line. And Cincinnati didn’t just notice — they protected him from the Rule 5 Draft by adding him to the 40-man roster in November. 

This is the fun part for the Reds: Rodríguez doesn’t have to be a superstar to make the trade a win. If he’s a contact-first outfielder with real speed, the kind of guy who can defend, swipe bags, and keep innings alive, that’s a useful big-league piece in 2026 and beyond. And the best part is he’s cost-controlled.

Now zoom out to the Mets’ current mood, and it gets even funnier (sorry… kind of). They just watched Pete Alonso head to the Baltimore Orioles, and Edwin Díaz bolt for the Los Angeles Dodgers on the heels of a messy 2025 finish — meaning New York is suddenly searching for stability and identity in places they used to have it. 

And somewhere in Cincinnati, that 2022 receipt keeps looking cleaner.