Now that the first shoe has finally dropped, long overdue and certainly welcome, people are still left wondering what the Mets will do between now and the August 3rd trade deadline. Losing David Peterson after his many years of varying levels of competence and ineptitude is not going to cause any Mets fans nor media types to experience agita as he was pitching to an ERA north of 6.00 and would leave as a free agent at year’s end anyway. If anyone bet that Peterson would be the first member of the 2026 major league roster to be calling for a moving van, it would likely have come with fairly long odds. Still, small as the return was it is somewhat reassuring to see the heretofore immobile and unresponsive front office to show they have a pulse after all.
While losing Peterson won’t really impact the Mets in a major way with Christian Scott expected back shortly to take his place while Zach Thornton keeps his seat warm, it does initiate some dialogue among anyone with a passing interest in the team about what will or won’t happen next. Yes, it’s easy to say they should cash in by fortifying their prospect pool by moving veteran players who simply are not fitting or who are not long term solutions, but there is the flip side which is an annoying but accurate assessment of how the team should plan its immediate future.
Going into this weekend the Mets stand roughly 7 games out of the last playoff spot. Read that sentence again. The team that just recently dropped three in a row to the Cubs including the six error debacle on Wednesday’s game two currently stands with a record of 34-46 prior to playing the 4th game against Chicago, 14.5 games out of first place and sporting a winning percentage of just .425 while hitting the new low plateau of being 12 games under .500. In order for the Mets to advance enough to sniff October baseball it would take a biblical level of injury catastrophes to multiple other teams before any opening would arise offering up a razor thin path to respectability. Yes, it could happen. So could winning the lottery. I don’t buy tickets for that windfall either.
For folks who live in the world of wanting to see something happen now rather than later, they are ready to push a house cleaning in order to use the balance of the 2026 miasma convert into something with long term implications of future success as new faces fill the locker room from the minors and from other teams. They don’t want to see more M.J. Melendez or Jared Young types getting day to day playing time when it would be more beneficial to find the next Carson Benge or A.J. Ewing.
As it stands right now the club doesn’t have a lot of wealth on the offensive side in AAA short of recently recalled Ronny Mauricio to cover for now injured Marcus Semien. It’s not as if they could push Ryan Clifford or Nick Morabito into the everyday lineup and suddenly they morph into superstars. The club needs higher level talents for the future and moving some veterans may be the way to get them.
The longer you wait to make these deals has two direct impacts. First, you are shortening the window of benefit for another team for the remainder of August, September and hopefully October. Consequently the return in these trades will be smaller then than they would be now when they could benefit from the entire month of July as well.
From the Mets side, hanging onto the veterans could help justify the last gasp attempt to force themselves into respectability but part of a management team’s job is not simply to act like hopeful fans but also to bank on what is needed for the future. If 5+ more weeks of Freddy Peralta and others is somehow the miracle drug we’re fairly certain it is not, then wouldn’t it make more sense to maximize the return to improve 2027 than accepting whatever scraps are offered up in August?
The Mets are saying this first trade is not a fire sale signal. Maybe that is true. Maybe it is not. It is indeed unexpected and welcome. Now what happens next?
4 comments:
Melendez is much better than Clifford right now. The only two hot AAA hitters relatively speaking are Morabito and Yonny Hernandez. Either is better than Vientos.
ANY trade from now on out should be to make the Mets a legit 2027 playoff contender. Do not blow up the team until 2030. By 2030, a healthy Lindor will be in real decline and Soto’s best years will be largely used up.
Mitch Voit is a real candidate to be the next AJ EWING in early 2027. For minors hitters, that’s it.
Other than that, the only minors help will be pitching. Tong, Santucci, and Wenninger will all be ready.
I like Voit too. Houck also. But mostly, Morabito, especially now that it's only a matter of time Mauricio fails his current test with a bat in his hands
i largely agree with Tom and Reece. I think the value of what you get for Peralta decreases dramatically the longer you wait, but it also true that the market can be more competitive for him as the playoff picture emerges. While Minter, Raley and Brazoban are very good relievers, only closers typically fetch truly valuable future prospects at the trade deadline. Frankly, if the Mets hope to contend next year, it makes more sense to extend them for short term additional contracts now than to trade them.. If not all, at least two of them.
Baty and Vientos will fetch a bag of bagels between them, but they have earned it. And they hamper the team more than anything else. The Mets have to give Mauricio some runway, and send Alvarez to a movement specialist after the season.
I agree that it would be a mistake to block Voit by moving Ewing to 2B and worse it will create a hole in the outfield.
This is a lost year for Reimer, but I do believe he has potential and wants to learn. He is very young still. I don't know what Mathis brings, but I do know what Clifford does, and it is not a good fit with what the Mets are hoping to do.
The big problem for the Mets minor leagues is lining up talent that can feed the major league team.
I think folks are underestimating the productivity of this first wave of minor league talent to the majors. Benge, Ewing, McLean and Scott are already on the major league roster because they belong there. There are a few on the cusp of joining them: Santucci, Lambert, Tong and Thornton, and maybe Ross, Simon and Wenninger as well. Some will make it, others are good level trade chips. There are fewer position players, with Morabito and Voit real possibilities, others not so much.
However there are no infielders near major league level beyond Voit and possibly Reimer from the current wave. Then things switch. There are several infielders farther down the minors but fewer outfielders and the pitchers down below still need to be sorted out.
This means we need professional quality, non injury prone infielders for two -three years at the least while we introduce some outfield and pitching prospects into the minors who will begin to be ready midway through the introduction of younger infielders who will form the core of that unit.
We also need a veteran presence on the pitching staff which we should aim to get in FA this offseason. I would spring for an ACE and an innings eater. We have neither at the moment.
I do think we will likely keep Manaea through the end of. his contract as he is good in the clubhouse and has shown some signs of life.
Let's send everyone batting below 250 to Braves for Hefner.
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