The 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline, long considered one of the more uncertain weeks in professional sports, has come and gone. It’s a time when teams in postseason contention try to make the finishing touches on their rosters, while those out of the playoff race look to sell off veteran players in exchange for prospects in hopes of building a brighter future. For the New York Mets organization, improving the starting rotation of their major league club meant dealing away a face familiar to many in and around Turlock.
At approximately 1:15 p.m. PST on Tuesday, roughly two hours before the deadline, Will Sammon of SNY reported that the Mets were sending 2020 Pitman High School graduate Kade Morris to the Oakland Athletics organization in exchange for Paul Blackburn. The deal was made official an hour later.
“It’s been a wild ride because, to be honest, I just wasn’t expecting to get traded.” said Morris, who was drafted by the Mets in the third round, 101st overall in the 2023 MLB Draft out of the University of Nevada. “With it being my first full year in the organization, you think you’re safe, so when you hear the news, it’s definitely a surprise.”
Blackburn, an eight-year veteran and a former All-Star, will provide the Mets with much-needed starting rotation depth, while Morris immediately became one of the top pitchers in the Athletics farm system. Heading into deadline day on Tuesday, the Turlocker had been ranked as the Mets’ #25 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Upon joining the Athletics organization and being assigned to High-A Lansing on Wednesday, MLB Pipeline ranked Morris as the team’s #20 overall and ninth-best pitching prospect.
Morris, a right-handed starting pitcher, had been with New York’s High-A team in Brooklyn at the time of the trade. In 11 games with the Cyclones, the 22-year-old achieved a 3.43 ERA with 57 strikeouts over 57 2/3 innings. In his last start on July 26 against the Rome Emperors of the Atlanta Braves organization, Morris took a perfect game bid into the seventh inning, eventually leaving the game having surrendered just three hits while striking out six in 6 1/3 innings.
As for the 30-year-old Blackburn, he has a 4-2 record with a 4.41 ERA and .703 opponents OPS in just nine games in a 2024 season that has seen him sidelined for nearly 11 weeks with a stress reaction in his right foot. Nevertheless, the Mets — who are 57-51 heading into Friday sitting a half-game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final National League Wild Card spot — are banking on the Blackburn of old. In his eight major-league seasons, all with Oakland, he went 21-26 with a 4.83 ERA and .778 opponents OPS in 81 games, including 77 starts. The right-hander was named an American League All-Star in 2022.
Although Morris described the past three days as “hectic” and admitted to being a bit blindsided by the trade, he has been able to put it all in perspective.
“With Blackburn heading to New York for me, that’s got to be a good thing, right?” Morris said with a laugh. “But seriously, I can’t think about all that too much. There are so many moving parts and decisions, I just need to make sure I can control what I can control and keep pushing forward.
“The mission hasn’t changed. I’m always trying to get 1% better every day. The A’s are going to get a straight dog. I want to win baseball games. And the goal of winning a World Series ring hasn't changed. Obviously, I have to make it to the big leagues first, so it’s still one step at a time. But in that overall picture, it doesn’t matter which team has me, I’m going to be working hard to make it and help a team lift a World Series trophy.”
It’s a goal shared by another Turlock resident in the organization: big-league catcher and first baseman Tyler Soderstrom. Soderstrom, who attended Turlock High School, also graduated in 2020 and has known Morris since they were each eight years old. For most of their childhoods, Morris and Soderstrom were teammates at the Backyard Sports Academy in Turlock, the training facility owned and operated by Soderstrom’s father, Steve, who pitched for the San Francisco Giants in 1996.
“Me and Tyler were playing catch together when we were eight,” Morris said. “His dad, Steve Soderstrom, was my pitching coach from when I was eight until my teenage years. Even in high school, I would reach out for advice. It’s all kinds of crazy. Tyler's been catching me for quite some time now, and the possibility that, hopefully someday soon, I'm in the major leagues pitching to Tyler Soderstrom, that would be pretty cool.”
Morris shared that Soderstrom, Oakland's 2020 first-round pick who has been on the injured list since July 11 with a bone bruise in his left wrist, reached out in the moments after the trade to welcome him to the organization. The former Bulldog later posted an Instagram Story with a picture of Morris with “turlock>” as the caption.
The Blackburn-for-Morris trade was one of two that the Athletics front office completed Tuesday in hopes of improving their minor league system. An hour earlier, Oakland traded reliever Lucas Erceg to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Jared Dickey and pitchers Mason Barnett and Will Klein.
A’s general manager Dave Forst expressed satisfaction with how the deadline played out for the team when speaking to the media at Oracle Park on Tuesday evening. “I feel pretty good about the players we have coming back. Obviously, you always would rather be on the other side of this day in bringing major league players in, but we’re not quite there yet.”
The big league club currently has the third-worst record in all of baseball (45-65) and are looking for better results in the years to come in Sacramento for at least the next three years as they await the construction of a brand new stadium in Las Vegas.
