METS ACQUIRE ALL-STAR INFIELDER JAVIER BÁEZ AND RHP TREVOR WILLIAMS FROM CHICAGO
FLUSHING, N.Y., July 30, 2021 – The New York Mets today announced the club has acquired two-time All-Star infielder Javier Báez, RHP Trevor Williams and cash considerations from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor league outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Báez, 28, has spent his entire eight-year major league career with the Cubs. This season with Chicago-NL, he is tied for sixth in the National League with 65 RBI and tied for seventh with 22 home runs. He has a 2.8 WAR according to Baseball-Reference.
Since 2016, his first full major league season, he has accumulated 9.6 defensive WAR, tied for fourth in the majors and tied for second in the NL. Báez is a four-time winner of The Fielding Bible Award for defensive excellence. He won the award three times as a multi-position player and was honored as a shortstop last year.
The 6-0, 190-pounder was named an NL All-Star in 2018 and 2019, won a Gold Glove in 2020 and was an NL Silver Slugger recipient in 2018, when he finished as the runner-up for the NL MVP Award. The Bayamon, Puerto Rico native won the 2016 World Series with Chicago-NL. That October, he was named the NLCS Co-MVP with LHP Jon Lester.
Báez became the first player in major league history to start the All-Star Game at second base and shortstop in consecutive seasons.
Williams, 29, has made 13 appearances (12 starts) for the Cubs this season, going 4-2 with a 5.06 ERA (33 earned runs/58.2 innings) with 22 walks and 61 strikeouts.
He has appeared in 119 games (106 starts) across six major league seasons between the Pirates (2016-2020) and Cubs (2021). Overall, he is 35-39 with a 4.49 ERA (296 earned runs/593.1 innings) with 199 walks and 477 strikeouts. He was originally selected by the Marlins in the second round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Arizona State University.
Williams has made two starts at Citi Field and owns a 1.93 ERA (three earned runs/14.0 innings) with four walks and 10 strikeouts.
Crow-Armstrong, 19, was the Mets first-round pick in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft out of Harvard-Westlake High School in California. He appeared in six games with the St. Lucie Mets before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. He underwent surgery on his right shoulder for a GLAD lesion (glenoid labral articular disruption) in May.
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