The Mets are heading into the trade deadline with one clear mission: restock the farm system. With the MLB deadline pushed back to August 3 this year, David Stearns has one last Monday to work with before the club leaves a home series against the Miami Marlins and heads on the road to face the Cleveland Guardians.
And if you’re looking for a sugarcoated version of what’s coming, there isn’t one. The season isn’t getting rescued. The deadline is here, and the Mets are positioned to be one of the more active teams in the market.
One name that keeps hanging over the conversation is Clay Holmes, but the expectation here is that he stays. Holmes has already talked about wanting an extension, and while nothing may get done, the Mets can still change the equation by moving away from the idea of a qualifying offer and the draft-pick compensation that would come with him signing elsewhere.
That could push Holmes toward taking a Mets offer before he reaches a murkier offseason. Either way, the result is the same for now: Holmes keeps taking the ball through the end of the year.
If there is a player under contract who gets dealt, Huascar Brazoban fits the bill. The Mets pulled him away from the Miami Marlins at the 2024 trade deadline, and now the thought is they flip him again in 2026.
At 36, he makes sense as a moveable bullpen arm for a team in need. The Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Tampa Bay Rays are all mentioned as possible fits.
Luke Weaver will draw plenty of trade chatter too, but the read here is that he stays after the Mets suffer another blown save from Devin Williams in the coming days.
Not every move will be about subtracting. The Mets are also expected to make one of those odd, under-the-radar trades to bring in a depth reliever.
They’ve done that sort of thing before, including the AJ Ramos deal in 2017. Joel Youngblood also came to the Mets in the same Midnight Massacre that sent Tom Seaver away.
So don’t be shocked if the name is one that sends fans straight to a search bar before the reaction turns into, “Oh, that makes sense.”
There’s also a chance the Mets end up dealing Tobias Myers, even though the return probably won’t be much. The reason is simple enough: his final minor league option gets used up this year, which means next season he’ll either need to be on the MLB roster or DFA’d.
Right now, another club could stash him in the minors and try to fix him, which gives him some value. If not, he becomes an offseason non-tender candidate.
A return to the Milwaukee Brewers or a move to the Cleveland Guardians - the team he was once traded to for Junior Caminero - would both make sense, even if he never appears in a major league game for anyone else this season.
And then there’s the rumor that will get people talking the most: Francisco Lindor. The Mets are not trading him.
But that won’t stop legitimate chatter from building as the deadline gets closer. The San Diego Padres are the obvious team to watch, while the Toronto Blue Jays are one of the more surprising clubs that could get mentioned.
In the end, nothing is expected to happen. It would just be another round of speculation in a storyline that doesn’t seem to have an ending.
In Other News...
This Feels Like Exactly The Risky Mets Pitching Bet Stearns Loves
The Mets have already shown a willingness to keep turning over pitching bets, and late June brought another reminder when David Peterson was shipped to the Cubs for Cole Mathis. Around the league, Lance McCullers Jr. has become one of the more intriguing names to watch after Houston sent him and Colton Gordon to Milwaukee for Jadyn Fielder, a move that puts a once-promising arm in a new setting and gives clubs a fresh chance to evaluate what he has left.
For New York, the appeal is obvious enough even with the risk baked in. McCullers has spent the last two seasons fighting through major health issues and uneven results, and the kind of pitcher he becomes with the Brewers will matter more than his reputation ever could. If he can stay on the mound and show something closer to his old form, he could fit the sort of upside play the Mets have not been shy about exploring, especially with David Stearns having known him from their time together in Houston. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Deadline Selloff Could Soon Cost Them A Trusted Bullpen Arm
As the deadline approaches, the Mets are widely expected to move into sell mode, and one of the more appealing pieces on the roster is a left-handed reliever who has quietly been one of their steadier bullpen arms this season. Brooks Raley has given New York the kind of late-inning reliability contenders tend to chase in July, which is why he has started to surface in conversations around clubs looking for help on the left side.
Boston has been one of the teams linked as a possible fit, especially with a need for another matchup lefty to pair behind Aroldis Chapman. But the Red Sox have also played their way into a murkier spot, and their recent surge has made it harder to tell whether they will push in for bullpen help or stay patient, leaving any potential deal hanging on how they read the next few days. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Are Eyeing A Mets Starter And Fans Wont Like It
The Phillies have surged since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager, and their push toward the NL East race has only sharpened the focus on the trade deadline. According to ESPNs Buster Olney, Philadelphia is prioritizing starting pitching, with the middle of the rotation emerging as the area it wants to upgrade as it tries to keep pace in a tight division battle.
For Mets fans, the more unsettling part is that one of the names floating into that discussion is a current New York starter who is still working back from injury. He is on the 60-day injured list and expected to return in August, which makes him an especially intriguing possibility for a contender looking to add help without waiting too long, and it adds another layer to a deadline market that could get complicated quickly. [Read more 🡒]