The Mets have acquired right-hander and outfielder from the Brewers for right-handed minor leaguer , per announcements from both clubs. first reported that Houser and Taylor were going to the Mets for a minor leaguer. reported that Crow would be that minor leaguer. David Stearns is plenty familiar with Houser and Taylor, having spent many years calling the shots in Milwaukee before becoming president of baseball operations for the Mets a couple of months ago. In both cases, the player has had some major league succe s but had reached arbitration and was in competition for playing time in Milwaukee. Instead, they will head to a Mets club that has been primarily focused on depth moves this offseason, while allowing the Brewers to clear a bit of payroll. Houser, 31 in February, has been a solid contributor for the Brewers in the past five seasons, mostly as a starter. From 2019 to the present, hes appeared in 120 games, 97 of those being starts. In his 523 2/3 innings pitched, he has an earned run average of 4.04. His 19.2% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate arent especially strong but hes kept 52.5% of balls in play on the ground. He has just over five years of service time, meaning hes slated for free agency after 2024. projects him for a salary of $5.6MM next year. Houser might project as merely a back end starter with just one year of control, but thats still a relative bargain compared to free agents. The Mets paid $13MM to get for one year, while other clubs have given out comparable deals. got $14MM, $13MM, $11MM, $8.5MM and $8MM. In Milwaukee, Houser was slated to be behind , and Miley, battling pitchers like , , , and for starts. But instead, hell jump to a somewhat similar spot with the Mets. His Marco Luciano Jersey new club has , and Severino in three spots, with pitchers like , and options for the back end. The club has been heavily linked to and everyone would move down one spot if they succe sfully land him, but Houser should be in line for a role at the back of the rotation either way. He will have a leg up on Megill, Lucchesi and Butto in the sense that they can still be optioned to the minors but Houser cannot, as a player with more than five years of service time. Taylor, 30 in January, seemed to establish himself as a viable big leaguer in 2021 and 2022. He got into 213 games for the Brewers over that stretch, hitting 29 home runs and slashing .239/.300/.448 for a wRC+ of 104. He also got strong grades for his outfield defense in all three spots and produced 3.4 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs. But he dealt with an elbow sprain in Spring Training this year, which caused him to mi s the first month of the season and then another month-plus in the middle of the year. He only got into 81 games and had diminished production when in the lineup, hitting .234/.267/.446 on the year. He reached arbitration for the first time this winter and is projected to make $1.7MM, with two years of control beyond that. He was also going to be part of a crowded outfield mix in Milwaukee that includes , , , , , and . With the Mets, they have in center but the corners are more questionable. was dealing with groin i sues in 2023, mi sing roughly half the season and struggling when on the field. finished the season on a hot streak at the plate but is a poor defender and better suited to be rotating through the designated hitter spot or pinch-hitting duties. Taylors righty bat could also potentially platoon with the lefty Stewart. Taylor has fairly neutral splits in his career but Stewart has been far better with the platoon advantage. Crow, 23 later this month, was drafted by the Angels. He was traded to the Mets in the in June but underwent Tommy John surgery in August, meaning he may mi s most or all of the 2024 season. At the time of the Escobar trade, he was ranked the Angels #17 prospect at Baseball America and #8 at FanGraphs. Hes currently listed 25th in the Mets system at and 20th at . He to sed 128 Double-A innings in 2022 with a 4.85 ERA. Aside from their pursuit of Yamamoto, the Mets have mostly been focused on adding depth this winter. They have claimed , , and off waivers. They have given one-year deals to Severino, , , and . They have also given minor league deals to , , , , , and . Now they have bolstered their rotation and outfield with a couple of solid regulars. For the Brewers, they are cutting a projected $7.3MM from their 2024 payroll. They are subtracting a bit of depth in the proce s but still have plenty of other options for their rotation and outfield even after this deal, while taking a flier on a long-term prospect in Crow. currently pegs next years payroll at $104MM, well below last years Opening Day mark of $119MM, per . There have been plenty of trade rumors this winter surrounding guys like Burns and , but it doesnt appear as though the club needs to make a move of either of those guys just for payroll purposes, a suming they are willing to have a similar payroll to 2023. As for the Mets, they are taking on that $7.1MM but could end up paying more. currently has their competitive balance tax number at $298MM, just above the fourth and highest threshold of $297MM. As a third time payor, their tax rates in each bracket are 50%, 62%, 95% and 110%. But the tax isnt calculated until the end of the year. If the club isnt competitive at the deadline and they trade some players with notable salaries, they could change their final position. Though signing Yamamoto for something in the would obviously push them even further beyond their current level. Darrell Evans Jersey