The Mets have opened the door to trade-deadline speculation, and the latest leak has only turned up the heat around one of their biggest names: Francisco Lindor.
According to a report from SNY’s Chelsea Janes, opposing front offices have been told that only five Mets are untouchable - the starting outfield of Juan Soto, A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge, plus starters Nolan McLean and Christian Scott. Lindor is not on that list, and that omission has already sparked plenty of chatter about what it might mean.
For Lindor, 2026 has been a rough season so far. He entered Sunday’s game in Philadelphia hitting just .205 with five home runs and 12 RBI in 42 games after missing time because of a pair of significant injuries. But he did give the Mets a glimpse of better days on Sunday, blasting a two-run homer against the Phillies and adding two walks as his timing at the plate looked sharper.
Still, the bigger issue is the noise around him. Lindor has a no-trade clause and remains one of the most valuable players in the organization, which makes the idea of moving him hard to take seriously.
The Mets are not in a true fire-sale mode, either. This is not 2023 all over again, when the club was trying to move aging pitchers and get better prospects in return.
Instead, the front office is looking for ways to improve its chances of winning in the prime years of Soto and Lindor.
That is why leaving Lindor off the untouchable list was such a bad look. The leak created a distraction around one of the team’s two stars, and that kind of speculation can spill over onto the field. The article points to Lindor’s uncharacteristic mental mistakes as a possible reflection of that added pressure.
Even beyond the optics, the practical case for a trade is thin. With the Mets unwilling to pay down contracts and Lindor holding a no-trade clause, finding a team willing to give up premium talent and take on his full deal would be extremely difficult.
Lindor has been one of the franchise’s faces for most of the last six years, and the Mets would do well to make that clear. David Stearns usually speaks at the start of each homestand, and the next time he does, he should say plainly that Lindor is not going anywhere. That would not only back up the player publicly, but it could also help shut down the constant questions about whether Lindor would even consider waiving his no-trade clause.
The Mets invited this conversation by letting their untouchable list leak without Lindor’s name on it. Now they need to clean it up, both to show him where he stands and to remove a cloud that should not be hanging over one of their most important players.
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