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) at the Mets’ home ballpark 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.