smg58

It was the most egregious/embarrassing, at least that I've seen (I don't get to sit and watch nearly as often as I'd like). He's not a good outfielder, but that was in the fine print and I can deal with most of it.

Fine. You shouldn't expect to get a high end prospect for a rental. Teams haven't really been doing that for a while, excepting very elite players, and Crow-Armstrong is exhibit A for why not. And on the other side, you have to wonder what offers were rejected in 2022 or 2023 because they included Parada.

Realism is important. You aren't going to get a high-end prospect for a rental, but you might as well get something. The players under team control consist of guys they'd be selling low on (Lindor, Alvarez, Baty), guys who are being paid more than they're worth (Polanco, Williams), guys who might opt out (Bichette), guys who will opt out but aren't healthy (Holmes), and one sell-high opportunity (Weaver). So I wouldn't expect anything eye-popping. Making the team worse to placate somebody who will opt out at his first chance anyway makes no sense. I don't see it happening. Alvarez has struggled to stay healthy, and it's hurt his performance both with the bat and the glove, but I think shipping him out under the assumption that improving on him will be easy would be a huge mistake. Weaver would be far easier to replace than either Lindor or Alvarez. Baty... the irony here is the Mets have held on to Baty when they presumably could have sold very high on him at a few trade deadlines or in offseasons, and now they'd be selling painfully low. Like with Vientos, I wouldn't cut bait just to be rid of him. I do think Baty has been playing hurt. But his upside, barring a substantially improved reading of the strike zone, is a useful reserve.

You would be selling low on Lindor, and then you'd be assuming you could find somebody better in the offseason than a (presumably) healthy Lindor would be in 2027. I've always worked under the assumption that on-field results are more likely to influence what goes on in the clubhouse than the other way around. Given how things went the second half of last season and the first half of this one, I'd be more concerned if everybody was happy. We can (and have, and will some more) grumble over the questionable personnel decisions, but the team has also had more than it's share of crummy injury luck. I think a full-on fire sale would do more harm than good. There's no point in selling low on anybody who's still under team control.

I would be surprised if somebody takes a flyer on Bichette. At his best he not worth $42M per year, and gambling on him opting out is something a smart team wouldn't do. Trading Alvarez makes no sense at all. As much as I like Torrens' defense, he's a black hole in a lineup that is already starved for offense. Dealing Alvarez would just add to next year's shopping list. We would be selling very high on Weaver, and I'm all for it. I think there will be too much doubt about Holmes to net us more than the QO would get us, so I'm for staying put with him. Plus, he could reasonably opt to take the QO. (He's definitely opting out of the contract.)

The Diamondbacks cut Pavin Smith, who was a very solid hitter in 2024 and 2025 before he got hurt and the wheels came off. Given that he would still be under team control, I think he'd make an interesting waiver claim.

He's a short-side platoon DH, or the 13th position player on the depth chart. I can't see arbitration getting him a whole lot more than that's worth, so I'm willing to leave the light on for him.

Bichette had to do something to shake himself out of the rut he was in. I think he'll work his way back to his normal approach, but getting more aggressive served its purpose.

But we need to rotate all these relievers in and out; otherwise we might have to think twice before taking Christian Scott out after five innings even when he's pitching well.

Not to nitpick too much on the manager that we already know is temporary, but Warren and Seelinger were left in far longer than was prudent.

The Mets lineup is essentially full strength -- not Semien or Robert, but it's really not clear that those two could outhit their replacements anyway. I think how the team hits over the next couple of weeks will influence how the team handles the deadline. Not that they're likely to be buyers by any stretch, but just getting a sense of who are guys you can win with in 2027.

On paper he's bullpen filler, but it would be a great story if a local guy who paid his dues for a long time gets some key outs for us. Even if that means next year.

There's a decent chance we could sell very high on Weaver. Good set-up guys are not hard to find for his salary or less, so if somebody is offering serious value, you have to do it.

We almost got there today.

Never any doubt!

If Bichette opts out of $84M over two years with a .679 OPS, it's a massive blessing in disguise. That being said, he made a really nice play last inning.

I'm not sure how many hitters have been healthy enough to get a fair sense of where they are (although I suppose that could also conceivably fall under the heading of "the Mets are doing something to these hitters"). Vientos appears to be healthy, which is... unfortunate. But Vientos is hitting lefties decently, which leads me to think that righties have figured him out. Like Luis Robert, he's only hit righthanded pitching well in basically one season, and I think you need to accept that's who he is. Benge was not ready in April, and Ewing would still be in AAA if things went remotely right. I don't think you can fault either, nor is there a point in demoting them or giving ABs to players who aren't better.

Ewing has a .241 BABIP against lefties, which is extremely unlucky for a lefty hitter with his speed. He'll regress to the mean in a good way if he's given the chance. I realize Taylor is responsible for the team's happiest moment this season, but why is he still here?

Other than playing Springer's sinking blooper into a little league home run, Soto has not been the problem. Offensively, he's been great despite getting basically zero help. While being 33-37 with him in the lineup is far from good, it shows that the season would be a lot more salvageable if the team hadn't completely fallen apart without him.

I'm disappointed by Tong. Hopefully he rights the ship in the second half.

This assumes, of course, that there still is a QO going into next season. And that there is a next season.

My gut says giving Holmes the QO would make more sense. It's a reasonable gamble to assume his health will be less in doubt at the end of the season than it will be at the end of the month, which means the draft pick -- assuming Holmes doesn't take the offer, which is at least possible -- would probably be worth more than they could get for him in a trade.

60 WAR seems to be the bar now (at least that's what it's become for hitters), and DeGrom (by FanGraphs' math, at least) is still below 50. So he's not a lock, but two more elite seasons would put him in the running. While I'm looking at FanGraphs, it's worth pointing out that his fastball has been faster than his 2018 level every year since. And with the exception of the 2021 season, when he blew out his arm and took the team's playoff chances with him, he hasn't been as good. And of course, he hasn't been anywhere near as healthy. There is a moral in there that a whole lot of baseball people are ignoring.

I don't think anybody would have taken the remaining two years of his contract even if he was playing well. We kind of have to hope he gets healthy, stays healthy, and plays better. Just like about twenty other Mets.

I think Baty has been playing hurt too, and Bichette probably played hurt the first two months of the season. I doubt it's a coincidence that Semien stayed active until Lindor and Mauricio came back. Which begs the question of whether something in our training regimen is horribly awry, or whether we've gotten catastrophically unlucky.