Cyclones on the Move After Winter Meetings '23

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for the Hot Stove during the cold winter. Baseball fans rejoice at the sound of Twitter updating and Mets fans finding out that three-time Cy Young Award Winner Justin Verlander is Citi Field bound. It’s glorious.

Aside from the loud bangs and the strong flashes of multi-million dollar deals, former Brooklyn Cyclones – and future big leaguers – were on the move in the first week of December on the minor league side.

Mets OF prospect, and 2019 New York Penn League Champion, Jake Mangum was traded to the Miami Marlins to complete a deal from mid-November as the famed “player to be named later.” Mangum now joins 2022 Brooklyn RHP Franklin Sanchez as the other piece that returned big league pitchers Elieser Hernandez and Jeff Brigham. Mangum made a splash in his first year in the Mets system, helping the Cyclones clinch the franchise’s first outright championship. The former Mississippi State Bulldog collected more hits than any other player in SEC history (383) and finished his career with the fourth-most hits in NCAA history. He joins Miami, a team known well for giving young prospects like Mangum a chance to make his big league debut in 2023.

Lefty sensation Keyshawn Askew, who led the Low-A St. Lucie Mets to a Florida State League First Half Division Title and the Brooklyn Cyclones to a South Atlantic League Second Half Division Title was traded 1-for-1 with Tampa Bay big league reliever

Brooks Raley. Askew’s funky sidearm delivery and nasty deception made for a great foundation for a future big-league career. And while Askew’s future rests with Tampa Bay, the Mets are happy to bolster the big league bullpen with Raley and his own nasty slider immediately.

Shervyen Newton, Brooklyn’s 2022 shortstop mainstay, was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft from the Philadelphia Phillies. Newton elected free agency after this past season -- his seventh year in the Mets system. His glove skills as a leading factor in his value, the Phillies signed him to a minor league deal. The Royals now have Newton in their system and paid Philadelphia $24,000 for his contract.

The Mets also selected some pieces in the quiet Rule 5 draft that could affect Brooklyn’s roster in 2023 including former Pittsburgh farm hand RHP Wilkin Ramos and SS Mateo Gil who was selected from the Colorado Rockies organization.