Mets left to hope David Stearns’ bulk approach to filling holes is enough

No, this wasn’t Yoenis Cespedes arriving (both literally and figuratively) on his white horse as the seconds ticked away toward the 2015 trade deadline, a move that landed the Mets in a World Series. It wasn’t Donn Clendenon arriving a few hours before the deadline of June 15, 1969, the final push the young Mets needed to shock the world a few months later.

There wasn’t that kind of one-man blast-furnace available this time. So David Stearns went another way. He bought bulk. His players, for weeks, have urged him to upgrade the team’s talent, honoring the push they’ve made from the bottom of the National League to a tie for the second wild card entering Tuesday’s game with the Twins at Citi Field.

He did that. It is impossible to say with certainty that the Mets are better than they were July 9, when GM David Stearns purchased reliever Phil Maton from the Rays and began what wound up as a six-player influx between then and 6 o’clock Tuesday night. But the Mets are certainly different , much different, than they were then.

Maybe that’ll be a footnote by season’s end.

David Stearns lays out expectations from Mets newest bullpen additions at trade deadline

But Stearns performed an act of basic baseball dentistry: he identified the cavities on the Mets roster and did what he could to fill them.

The Mets’ bullpen was such a disaster area for two-plus months, it was eligible for federal relief. They lost six games in between May 1 and June 2 when they led after eight innings (and just imagine how different their playoff odds would be if they’d merely closed out half of those). Even when the Mets started winning there was a three-week stretch where the bullpen ERA was close to 8.00.

Now there will be four new faces out there. Maton has pitched well so far, allowing just one run in seven appearances. Ryne Stanek arrived last weekend and was filleted in his first outing Sunday, but as recently as two seasons ago he was a key member of a championship pen in Houston. And on Tuesday Stearns added Tyler Zuber from the Rays and Huascar Brazoban from the Marlins. Out with the old, in with the new. See what sticks.

Mets’ bullpen overhaul continues with Marlins’ Huascar Brazoban in latest trade deadline move

The Mets know they needed starting depth and so they acquired Paul Blackburn from the A’s and hope that the Oakland-to-Flushing translation works as well for Blackburn as it did for Chris Bassit two years ago.

Lastly, the Mets had grown impatient (about two months after the bulk of their fans had) that DJ Stewart was their best lefty option off the bench. So Stewart was sent to Triple-A Syracuse and old friend Jesse Winker was acquired from the Nationals, and that’s the one pickup you have to believe is a no-doubt-about-it upgrade.

Will this be enough?

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR STARTING LINEUP NEWSLETTER

In truth, it depends on what your definition of “enough” is. The biggest pieces to move Wednesday were probably Marlins closer Tanner Scott (to the Padres) and Tigers starter Jack Flaherty (to the Dodgers). Should Stearns have been in on those? Surely he inquired. Should he have started dealing away key elements of the future to get those deals done?

Look, he’s been transparent about this from Day 1, as has Steve Cohen. The Mets were committed to dueling tracks this season, hoping to stay in the playoff hunt while simultaneously developing, maintaining and strengthening their farm system.

What’s been interesting is that the first part — staying competitive — had been the easy part, especially when you consider how far they’ve come the last month and a half. A lot of the Mets’ highest-profile prospects have either struggled this year or battled injury. It’s not always easy to be patient with kids, but what if the Mets had given up on Mark Vientos after last season, when he hit .211 with 71 strikeouts to only 46 hits?

Stearns and Cohen both insisted early that they expected the Mets to be in the thick of the playoff race, and while that seemed fanciful in May it’s turned out to be true as we near August. Their push the last seven weeks flipped the team from likely sellers to active (if not aggressive) buyers.

They look a lot different than they did even five days ago. The next few weeks will determine if “different” can be a synonym for “better.”

For the latest in sports, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/sports/