Should The Mets Buy Or Sell At The Deadline?
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There is less than a month left before the trade deadline and the Mets find themselves in a tough spot. After a rough month of June, all hope looked lost for the season but then the Mets began July with a bang, going 6-0 before suffering back to back losses against the Padres. At the All-Star break, the Mets sit seven games behind the last wild card spot and there's about 70 games left in the regular season. So should they be sellers or buyers before the August 1st trade deadline?
The Mets are one of the oldest MLB teams this season according to average age so it would make sense to sell by shipping off several veterans. Eduardo Escobar has already been traded so it may be possible that other veterans like Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Adam Ottavino, David Robertson, and others might be available too. Even Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander could possibly be made available in trades if the deal is just right since they are not getting any younger and they are on short term deals.
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In this scenario, the Mets could get solid returns back for some veteran players that could help contending teams win a championship and this would open up more opportunities for the Mets to play their young core of players. This situation would also clear millions of dollars off the payroll which would allow owner Steve Cohen to spend more money on free agents this upcoming offseason and this includes superstar, two-way player Shohei Ohtani.
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On the other hand, if the Mets start another winning streak to begin the second half and pull closer to a playoff spot, I could see them buying at the deadline to try and get in the postseason for a second straight season. With all the veterans on this team, the Mets definitely do not lack playoff experience and this might help them catch fire at the right time and make a deep postseason run from a wild card spot like the Phillies did last season.
Starting pitching has been an issue all season for the Mets so I think that should be top priority going into the deadline if they are buyers. As for position players, adding another outfielder would not be a bad idea so you can platoon a left handed hitter with Starling Marte, Mark Canha, and Tommy Pham. A left handed reliever would also be useful in New York’s bullpen as the only left handed pitcher that has thrown a lot of innings so far this season has been Brooks Raley. Also, if Edwin Diaz comes back in September, this bullpen could become a pretty dangerous unit very quickly.
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The Mets will be an interesting team to watch for the rest of the month as their on-field play will determine if they decide to push for the postseason or sell off pieces and start preparing for the offseason. When the All-Star break ends, the trade deadline will be about three and a half weeks away so I expect trades talks to start ramping up around the league on a daily basis very soon.
