Mets blow up Clay Holmes trade to Diamondbacks, send him to Cubs instead

Deadline day chaos hit the Mets on Monday when a deal sending reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes to the Diamondbacks fell apart just hours before the 6 p.m. ET cutoff. The two sides were deep enough into it that they'd already swapped medical information on the players involved, according to Arizona Republic reporter Nick Piecoro.

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Mets Backed Out Of Trade Sending Clay Holmes To Diamondbacks t.co/5CBp0GzoDx

The holdup, per Piecoro's reporting, came down to the Mets having concerns about the medicals on one of the prospects Arizona would've sent back to New York. The two clubs tried to rework the package with different names attached, but couldn't land on new terms before time ran out.

That left Arizona scrambling. The Diamondbacks had reportedly been close on multiple pitching targets, and D-backs GM Mike Hazen didn't hide his frustration afterward — the club ended up settling for a smaller deal for Lars Nootbaar while the Holmes swap it thought it had locked up evaporated.

Holmes didn't stick around New York's bullpen for long, though. Instead of running the clock out on the Diamondbacks talks, the Mets pivoted and packaged Holmes with outfielder Tyrone Taylor in a separate trade to the Cubs, landing infield prospect Jefferson Rojas in return.

It's a wild swing for a guy who was one of the better stories in baseball this year. Holmes signed a 3-year, $38 million deal with the Mets last December to convert from Yankees closer into a full-time starter, and it worked — he posted a 3.53 ERA over 165 2/3 innings in 2025 and was running a 2.39 ERA through his first 52 2/3 innings this season. That track record is exactly why two different teams were fighting over him at the deadline.

For the Mets, the sequence shows how fast a single medical red flag can blow up a deal that looked done — and how quickly a front office can pivot to a plan B when it does. For Arizona, it's a missed opportunity that left the rotation thinner than the front office wanted heading into the stretch run.