Something may still be salvaged from the Mets’ lost season, and Tyrone Taylor is making sure his name stays in the conversation.
Taylor kept rolling Monday night, going 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs as New York blasted the Braves 14-3. The win came against the NL East leaders, but the bigger development for the Mets may be what Taylor is doing for his own market value with the trade deadline looming on Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. ET.
The Mets are 45-62 and expected to sell, which puts Taylor squarely in the spotlight. He’s a pending free agent, and the way he’s hitting right now could turn him into a useful piece for a contender - and a valuable chip for New York.
Before landing on the injured list with a hip injury on May 25, Taylor was scuffling badly, hitting .186/.210/.320 with three homers in 43 games. Since coming back on June 28, the story has flipped. Over 19 games, he’s slashing .410/.477/.974 with six home runs.
The power has come in a hurry, too. As ESPN’s Jorge Castillo noted, Taylor has hit six homers in just 35 plate appearances after managing only three in his first 111 plate appearances.
His seventh-inning three-run shot Monday was his second homer in as many days, and MLB.com Mets beat writer Anthony DiComo summed up the moment plainly: "Doubtless, he'll be on the move soon."
That’s the reality for a Mets team that has little left to play for over the final two months. Taylor’s surge comes at exactly the right time for a market that could get busy fast. Six AL and NL teams - 12 total - are within five games of the final wild-card spot in their respective leagues, which makes the week before the deadline a pressure cooker.
For clubs trying to grab one more bat and stay in the race, Taylor suddenly looks like the kind of short-term rental that can matter. For the Mets, that means an asset whose value is climbing by the day.
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Austin Riley has been better since the All-Star break, but the broader picture still points to a club that may need a bat more than it first looked like it would. That is why the Braves are being linked to help at designated hitter or in the outfield, with names like Lane Thomas and Jo Adell among the possibilities, while the infield market could also come into play. The challenge now is figuring out whether Atlanta wants to patch one spot or address a lineup that has too often gone cold all at once. [Read more 🡒]