The Mets have added Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz. They can’t stop there.

Dec 2, 2018, 2:30 PM UTC

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images

On late Saturday night, the long-waited trade between the Mariners and Mets was finally completed. Although it will be announced on Monday, we know what the details of the deal are: The Mets will be sending Jay Bruce, Gerson Bautista, Anthony Swarzak, Justin Dunn and Jarred Kelenic to Seattle in exchange for Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz and $20 million. It took a while for this to get done and Jerry Dipoto even pulled off yet another trade while the particulars of their trade with the Mets were getting ironed out.

But the deal is basically done and while it’s clear that the Mariners are currently in rebuilding mode, it’s very interesting to think about this from New York’s perspective. The Mets are only two seasons removed from a Wild Card appearance and three seasons removed from winning the NL Pennant. Their past two seasons have been bad enough to where you’d think that they were one of the seemingly countless number of teams who were rebuilding and going for the future. Instead, the Mets just had two star-crossed seasons and now it’s time to shore things up and try to compete in a division that is suddenly wide open when it comes to potential competitors.

If you’re going to acquire a pitcher of Edwin Diaz’s caliber and a player like Robinson Cano at that particular stage of his career, then you really have to be going for it. If the Mets are indeed going for it, then new GM Brodie Van Wagenen can’t stop here and likely won’t stop here. They’re going to have to continue to pursue big-time acquisitions this offseason, whether it’s via trade or free agency. As it turns out, they’re already rumored to be in on another big name. According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the Mets could be trying to pry Corey Kluber off of Cleveland’s hands.

This is the way to go for the Mets. If the Braves are in the process of loading up, the Phillies have the financial resources to load up and the Nationals could be poised to bounce back, then the Mets can’t just sit idly by. This all could just be Van Wagenen attempting to put his early stamp on things in New York but if the Mets really want to contend in 2019 then they need to continue on this path.

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