While there have been many stories circulating about the New York Mets being sellers at the MLB trade deadline, it seems that may not be the case even if they really wanted to ship off some of their players.
The New York Mets entered the season with the largest payroll in MLB history and with a huge amount of expectations. And that was understandable considering the team won 101 games last season and switched out injury-prone ace Jacob DeGrom for reigning American League Cy Young Justin Verlander. However, the results this season have been the complete opposite of what was hoped for.
Related: MLB power rankings – Ranking every team ahead of the trade deadline
As the team nears the trade deadline the Mets are in the bottom 10 of the MLB standings and are heading in a direction where they may be eliminated from the playoff race by the end of August. It is why there has been a great deal of speculation from in and outside the organization that the team could look to trade off several players before the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline. Well, not so fast.
While there have been rumblings that New York Mets talents like David Robertson, Tommy Pham, Mark Canha, and even aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander could be trade targets by rival teams, a new report suggests that the team’s potential trade chips aren’t going to draw worthwhile value on the market.
New York Mets record (2023): 46-53
On Sunday, New York Post MLB insider Jon Heyman wrote about the organization possibly being active at the deadline, and from his perspective he doesn’t see much trade value beyond veteran reliever David Robertson.
“There’s no sense in selling since the Mets lack the kind of players that make a sale worthwhile. The only tradeable player who has ‘excess value’ is David Robertson, and a 38-year-old reliever — even a great one — isn’t going to exactly bring back a haul.
“The only way the Mets could extract top-100 type prospects is if they offered to pay most or all of the contracts of Scherzer and Justin Verlander, in effect buying a prospect or two. That seems unseemly.”
– Jon Heyman
So essentially, this may end up being a very uneventful MLB trade deadline for the New York Mets because they are too far out of the playoff chase to make a big trade to add talent a smart decision, and they lack players the team’s will actually give up elite prospects to acquire.
While first baseman Pete Alonso is seen as untouchable, even All-Stars like Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte have lost value compared to previous years because of down seasons in 2023.