While the Mets are trending towards becoming trade deadline sellers, the team has not yet talked specific players with other clubs, according to league sources.
And while the biggest haul would come from moving Pete Alonso, the Mets do not plan to engage other clubs about the superstar first baseman.
Alonso is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2024 season, and as one league source put it, “if they don’t feel like they are going to sign him, the offseason is a better time to talk about trades, because more teams would be involved.”
If the Mets do sell, free agents-to-be Tommy Pham, Mark Canha, David Robertson and Omar Narvaez are the most likely to go. As detailed in a column Monday morning, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are trickier cases.
One league source expected trade conversations to become more intense and specific one week from today, barring a major Mets’ winning streak.
Although the Mets’ decision to shuffle the rotation and give Verlander an extra start in July was interpreted as a means to showcase Verlander before the deadline, in reality the team did that to break up Jose Quintana and Carlos Carrasco — an attempt to protect the bullpen from consecutive days with starting pitchers unlikely to last deep into the game.