It may send a cold chill down the spine of New York Mets fans, but it looks like crosstown rivals the New York Yankees will help decide if the team is sellers before the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline.
This has been nothing short of a disastrous season for the New York Mets. The franchise with the largest payroll in league history close in on August seven games under .500, near the bottom of the National League East, and a startling seven games out of the final Wild Card spot.
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Furthermore, the team has shown little sign they can bounce back from their yearlong funk and catch fire in the final months of the season. That is why there has been consistent speculation for the last month that the team should cut bait and look to try and ship off impending free agents or stars that could land them top 100 prospects in return.
Yet, over the last week the New York Mets front office has been resistant to pulling the trigger on beginning the selling process and continue to hope the roster can finally show the same upside they did last season when they won 101 games. They went into their series over the weekend with the Boston Red Sox looking for a sign of life but they instead lost two of three.
New York Mets record (2023): 46-53
Now it seems, that their mini Subway Series against the New York Yankees this week will be the make-it-or-break-it point for the organization. On Monday, SNY MLB insider Andy Martino explained the importance of the next two games for the team.
“Mets people confirmed that the team is not yet open for business, despite a frustrating series loss in Boston over the weekend. That imbues the upcoming two-game subway miniseries at Yankee Stadium with even more significance than usual. Mets brass has never been eager to sell, and will probably wait for a moment when that becomes absolutely necessary. In the meantime, their pro scouts are fanned out all over the minor leagues for targeted scouting of potential returns.”
– Andy Martino
It all means that if the New York Mets were to fall in both games to the New York Yankees and lose four of their last five, it would surely send the team down a path to finally move to trade certain players over the weekend ahead of next week’s MLB trade deadline. However, if they sweep the series it may push the team to hold off on moves until the last minute.
The Mets and Yankees renew their rivalry on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM ET.