With the August 3 trade deadline still ahead, the Mets are in the same spot as plenty of other clubs: everyone wants pitching, relief help is always in demand, and the rumor mill keeps circling without really landing on anything new. Clay Holmes and Freddy Peralta are two of the bigger names out there, and somewhere down the line it may take a move like Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers to really kick things into gear.
But there’s another lane here too - the kind of trade that clears money more than it changes a roster overnight. The Mets have contracts they’d probably love to move, and if another team is willing to absorb some salary, a few possibilities start to make sense.
One fit is Sean Manaea to the White Sox. Chicago reportedly doesn’t want to part with any of its top 10 prospects and is open to taking on payroll, which makes Manaea an obvious name to circle.
He’s pitched well as a starter, and if the White Sox want him at a cost tied mostly to his 2026 and 2027 salary, the Mets might be able to move him without a major return. New York has to be careful not to give away too much, but Manaea has also spent a good chunk of this contract hurt or ineffective.
If the Mets can sell now, they may prefer to open that rotation spot for someone on the rise rather than someone trending the other way.
Bo Bichette is another name that could fit the salary-dump mold, even if the market for him is murky. The Red Sox could use a shortstop, might need help at third base after Curtis Mead got hurt in his first game, and could even get creative with Bichette at second.
The catch is the contract. His opt-out after 2026 makes his future hard to pin down, and nobody wants to get stuck with him for 2027.
That uncertainty is a big reason he hasn’t come up much in Mets rumors or elsewhere. Still, Bichette has the kind of track record that says he should be better, and he has handled third base well.
Boston could do worse than sending back a lower-tier prospect while New York clears the salary and opens the infield for another move right away.
Then there’s Luis Robert Jr. and the Marlins, which might be the most interesting of the bunch. Miami lost 12 straight, then turned around and swept the Philadelphia Phillies, so figuring out whether they’re buying or selling is its own puzzle.
If ownership wants to do a little of both, Robert is a name to watch. Jakob Marsee isn’t producing enough at center field, with an OPS in the low .600s, and Robert could give Miami a real offseason boost and some legitimacy.
With a team option for next year, the Marlins could also keep him around if things go well and they decide to start paying players. For the Mets, moving Robert would mostly be about saving money.
He’s only guaranteed an extra $2 million if he gets bought out for next year, so the burden isn’t overwhelming beyond this season. That kind of deal might only bring back a player to be named later, with the real details sorted out later depending on how Robert performs.
As for the rest of the salary-dump chatter, some names simply don’t feel movable. Nobody is taking Marcus Semien, Kodai Senga, or Jorge Polanco right now.
If the Mets were to dump Francisco Lindor, that would be personal. And Devin Williams, despite not being beloved by fans and carrying a high price tag, is still worth keeping around and wouldn’t bring back nearly as much on the trade market as he would for the Mets in 2027.
In Other News...
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Luis Torrens has drawn attention from clubs looking for catching help, even as the Mets appear reluctant to part with him, while Clay Holmes second rehab start is being watched as more than just a health checkpoint. Austin Warren has also begun a rehab assignment in St. Lucie, adding another layer to a week when every roster move seems to carry deadline implications. [Read more 🡒]
This Mets Deadline Gamble Became A Painful Bullpen Reminder
Back in the summer of 2017, the Mets made a deadline move for AJ Ramos as the roster was leaning more toward selling than adding, hoping the veteran reliever could steady a bullpen that needed help. The price was Ricardo Cespedes and Merandy Gonzalez, a reminder that even smaller deadline deals can carry long tails when a club is trying to thread the needle between the present and the future.
Ramos never gave the Mets much of the payoff they were chasing, and the move became one more cautionary tale from that stretch of roster churn. His time in New York ended after a rough 2018 run, and the two prospects sent out in the deal did not develop into meaningful big-league pieces, leaving the trade as a quiet but costly bullpen misfire in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Could Make One Deadline Move Fans Would Instantly Debate
With the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaching, the Mets are expected to do what contenders usually do at this point in the calendar: move players who are not under contract for 2027 and keep an eye on pitching. The rotation has been the obvious place to look, and if the front office decides to chase a starter, the names on the board are the kind that can change the conversation in a hurry, from Angels right-handers Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano to Mariners arms Emerson Hancock and Luis Castillo.
The problem is that starting-pitcher shopping rarely comes cheap, especially for a team trying to balance present urgency with longer-term roster control. ESPN has already surfaced a few more possibilities in that same lane, including Joe Ryan, which only adds to the sense that the Mets could be weighing a move that would help immediately but also invite plenty of debate about how much future value they should be willing to touch for a rotation upgrade. [Read more 🡒]