Cade Lalim

Image courtesy of © Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Over the winter heading into the 2026 season, the Miami Malins inked Christopher Morel to a one-year major league deal to be their starting first baseman. He made the initial 26-man roster but suffered a left oblique strain during batting practice on Opening Day causing him to be scratched from the lineup and hit the 10-day injured list the following day. Morel was activated a month later on April 27, but let’s just say his tenure with the Marlins didn’t go as planned. Across 22 games and 73 plate appearances, he put up an abysmal .162/.219/.206 slash line along with just three extra-base hits and one run driven in. Due to his poor performance, Morel was released from the organization on June 26 after being outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville the week prior. It didn’t take long for him to find a new home, as the New York Mets quickly signed him to a minor-league contract on July 1, where Morel would spend the next month and a half with Triple-A Syracuse. Christopher Morel’s Potential Role with the Mets The Mets organization noticed his struggles and let Morel take a breather for a while in Triple-A, giving him a chance to reset. It paid off quite nicely as he mashed 12 home runs and seven doubles along with a .321 batting average and 1.098 OPS. He was a run-producing machine collecting 29 RBIs while scoring 23 himself. His excellent minor-league showing earned him a call to the Mets on August 17. Morel's call-up came at just the right time since the Mets had to place Jorge Polanco on the injured list just days after, thinning the depth on the roster. Even though Polanco was the club's primary designated hitter, his absence still leaves playing time open for other players. With Morel being pretty much limited to first base at this point, he’ll split time with Jared Young who’s been one of the Mets best hitters all-season to this point. Even though Morel has only logged 13 plate appearances with the Mets thus far, a potential platoon situation could be an option for the pair. Young is a lefty-bat who’s really struggled against southpaws this season, batting .205 with a .544 OPS. He’s been a lot more productive against righties, owning a .282 average and .818 OPS across 206 at-bats. While Morel has been up and down against southpaws throughout his career, a true plan role could be a way to give him some playing time and get Young out of the lineup when facing lefty pitchers. Over 539 career plate appearances against left-handed pitchers, Morel is hitting .202 along with a .669 OPS and 44 extra-base hits. In the midst of his fifth major-league season and on his fourth different team, Morel could offer a nice veteran presence for the final stretch of the season and could actually deliver some respectable offensive numbers. His 74 career home runs and contagious energy are, at the very least, paths to excitement for a team that hasn't done much worth celebrating in 2026. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images Over the winter heading into the 2026 season, the New York Mets signed third baseman Bo Bichette to a three-year contract with player options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons -- the total deal would be worth $126 million. The only problem is that the Mets have not seen the numbers from Bichette that he’d put up during his seven-year tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays. In Toronto, he owned a .290 batting average and .806 OPS to go along with 111 home runs and 437 runs driven in. Yet his offensive abilities have fallen off a cliff during his first year with the Mets as he currently sports a .266 batting average and .706 OPS with 13 homers and 65 runs batted in. That's not awful production, but certainly not what you'd expect from two-time All-Star Bichette. With the 2026 season nearly over, Bichette has only managed to put together two months of quality offensive production. He really struggled to start the season from April to May, where his OPS sat below .600 and it was looking like his contract might be a bust. He then provided a quick glimpse of hope in June, when he managed a .321 average and .883 OPS along with 13 extra-base hits and 18 runs driven in. At the time, it looked like he was starting to figure things out at the dish and might actually return to form for the rest of the season. Well, his performance fell back in July, hence his .275/.320/.308 slash line for the month. It would have been easy for him to roll over, accept his and the Mets' fate, and just opt-in to his $42 million salary for 2027. But that's not what happened. Bichette has played 18 games so far in August and it has proven to be the most effective stretch of time we’ve seen from him in a Mets uniform. Across a small sample size of 77 plate appearances, the third baseman has posted an excellent .329/.390/.557 slash line along with a 163 wRC+. His 0.9 fWAR during the month of August accounts for half of total fWAR for the season, which is both an indictment of his early play and a reminder of how good he can be when everything is clicking. He’s definitely on pace to make this month his best offensive stretch for the entire season. What Has Led to Bo Bichette’s Uptick In Performance? What’s actually been the biggest factor to Bichette’s inconsistency month-to-month has been his batted-ball tendencies. When he does a good job consistently hitting line drives is when we’ve seen him perform best, but when he starts to get rolled over and hit the ball on the ground is when he struggles. He's a free-swinger, which is contributing to this specific inconsistency. During Bichette’s best two months at the plate (June and August), his line-drive rate has been above 26%. For the whole season, Bichette owns a 21% line-drive rate. Now in August where he’s putting up his best monthly batting average for the season, his line-drive rate is at a season-best 28.8% mark. Over Bichette’s career, his two highest line-drive rates for an individual season resulted in a season batting average over a .300 mark (26% in 2020 and 27.4% in 2023). It’s not the only time when he's hit for at least a .300 average, but that gives us a pretty good idea of when he's his performing at optimal efficiency. Similarly, the reason why Bichette’s August performance has been even better than June is because he’s lifting the ball more in general and not hitting the ball on the ground as much. Thus far in August, he’s managed a 38.5% groundball rate, which is even better than his 44% clip back in June. Naturally, because he's lifting the ball more, Bichette has shown pretty good power in August, hitting two home runs, five doubles, and one triple. The question that most fans will have about this hot streak is whether or not it will affect his eventual option decision at the end of the year. It's going to be tough for him to turn down $42 million after his earlier struggles (especially with the lockout looming), but if he keeps hitting like this through the end of September, the Mets may need to reevaluate their third base plans in 2027 and beyond. View full article

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Sean Manaea has never been one to blow you away with his stuff, but his craftiness has allowed him to have a successful career thus far. He’s never been named to an All-Star roster, but Manaea did successfully complete a no-hitter on April 21, 2018 against the Boston Red Sox when he was still with the Oakland Athletics. He’s been a steady workhorse over his career and teams always value players who can show to be consistent with their performance. After a solid first season with the New York Mets in 2024 where he pitched to a 3.47 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, the organization signed him to a three-year, $75 million contract extension which will keep him in Queens through the 2027 season. Manaea’s 2024 season with the Mets was his best thus far with the club, as he missed time in 2025 due to an injury, leading to worse results upon his return. Thankfully, he has turned his performance around in 2026 and is in the midst of a nice bounce-back season. Breaking Down Sean Manaea's Excellent Second-Half Showing Since the Mets returned to action after the All-Star Break, Manaea has looked really good for the most part over five second-half starts thus far. Aside from his July 18 start against the Philadelphia Phillies where he allowed four earned runs across 4.2 innings, Manaea has allowed two or fewer runs in his next four starts while completing at least six innings of work. That performance translates to a superb 3.03 ERA. If you remove that ugly start in Philadelphia, Manaea owns a 2.16 ERA over his last four start, having allowed just four earned runs across 25 innings. In a span of three straight starts against three highly-talented lineups including the Dodgers, Braves, and Guardians, Manaea tossed six innings each time out while allowing two runs or fewer. He didn’t strike out many batters but was certainly effective. During his recent road start against the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 9, Manaea was really good through his seven innings of work, only recording 91 pitches in the process. He showed really good command as 69 of those pitches landed for strikes which translates to an excellent 75.8% mark. Overall, he allowed just one earned run off of just three hits. The best part is that he didn’t issue a single walk and struck out a season-high 11 batters. After a rough 2025 campaign where Manaea posted a 5.64 ERA, the Mets decided that it would be best for the southpaw to pitch out of the bullpen this year, where he served as a long-reliever until mid-June. Over 43 innings spanning 14 appearances out of the bullpen, Manaea owned a 5.02 ERA and 1.44 WHIP before transitioning back to the rotation. His move back to a starting role has been very successful thus far as he’s pitched to a much-better 3.50 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. Manaea’s pitch-mix has evolved over time and it has been interesting to see how he’s still been effective even with the oddities in his arsenal of pitches. He only used three pitches from 2016 to 2019, but now he has the option of five different offerings. Even though his fastballs only average around 91 mph, his excellent seven feet of his extension helps create a faster deceived velocity for hitters. As previously mentioned, Manaea’s pure stuff isn’t very overwhelming and it hasn’t generated a lot of swing as miss as a whole, but he’s still managing to strikeout a respectable 23.3% of opponents. This is in part to him being able to produce an above-average amount of swings out of the zone (chase rate), which is also why he's been generating lots of soft contact this summer. The Mets are currently in evaluation mode after selling at the trade deadline. Nolan McLean, Zac Thornton, and Christian Scott are all making a case to be a part of the 2027 rotation, while top prospect Jonah Tong will be under consideration as well. If Manaea can carry forward his success through the end of this season, he should have an inside track on that final spot, serving as the veteran leader of a young and talented group. View full article

Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Juan Soto has undoubtedly been the New York Mets' best hitter all season, but after winning hitter of the month honors for June 2026, someone else took the crown for the month of July. It was a close race between the three hitters mentioned below, but Francisco Lindor ultimately came away with the prize. The Mets offense throughout the 2026 season thus far has been pretty underwhelming and they currently rank 28th overall in fWAR (7.6) ahead of only the Cincinnati Reds (7.1) and Colorado Rockies (6.9). Still, the team's batters took a big step forward during the month of July which propelled them up to the 11th-best offense in the league for the month, according to FanGraphs. Ranking Mets' Best Hitters In July No. 3 Francisco Alvarez, C There were numerous players who could’ve been selected here for the third spot, but Francisco Alvarez had the slight edge over Soto, Carson Benge, Jared Young, and A.J. Ewing. He managed a .267 batting average last month to go along with four extra-base hits that included three home runs. His performance in July wasn’t quite as spectacular as Lindor or Taylor, but he did have a respectable stretch of 74 plate appearances. Alvarez did a good job getting on base at a .405 clip, which was largely as a result of him drawing walks at an excellent 17.6% rate. He’s always shown the ability to walk and get on-base at an average pace but he took it to another level last month. Alvarez’ .267 batting average for the month was pretty good for his expectations, as he is a career .235 hitter. He had the second highest average on balls in play with a .351 clip that only trailed Benge with a .381 mark. His 139 wRC+ ranked third on the Mets for batters with at least 50 plate appearances, only trailing the two names below. No. 2 Tyrone Taylor, OF Taylor almost took the crown for the month of July and it could be argued that there wasn’t much of a difference between his performance and Lindor’s. The only variance is that he only made 50 plate appearances and his overall results weren’t quite as impressive. Over Taylor’s smaller sample, he hit for a .326 batting average which led the team, and also collected 10 extra-base hits. He hit six home runs, lined four doubles, and drove in 12 runs. Taylor displayed the most pure-power, hence his .512 isolated power and .837 slugging percentage -- both marks led all Mets hitters in July. He stayed disciplined at the plate over the course of the month where he drew walks 12% of the time, which was encouraging to see since over his career that’s not been the case with a 5.3% mark. Taylor’s strikeouts were a smidge high at a 24% clip. His two-and-a-half year tenure with the Mets ended on a good note, as he was traded to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline along with right-hander Clay Holmes. Out of all major-league hitters with at least 50 plate appearances for the month of July, Taylor led the group with an incredible 235 wRC+. No. 1 Francisco Lindor, SS Lindor earns this honor after leading the club with 107 plate appearances. His .258 batting average wasn’t the best on the squad, but he did mash six home runs while driving in 17 runs in the process. The biggest part of Lindor’s success in July was the power he displayed on offense when he collected 10 extra-base hits including three doubles and one triple. This resulted in a .505 slugging percentage for the month which was higher than his .420 mark for the season. His .247 isolated power topped his season and career marks. Lindor’s approach and discipline at the plate remained the same quality that we’ve seen from him since he debuted in Cleveland back in 2015. Lindor drew walks 12.1% of the time while maintaining an excellent 18.7% strikeout rate. Overall he had a great all-around offensive performance in July, leading to a 140 wRC+. If he keeps this up, the Mets should be right back in the thick of the hunt in 2027. View full article

Image courtesy of IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect On Thursday night, it was reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan that the New York Mets were sending lefty reliever A.J. Minter to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers: Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani. It marks the first trade from the Mets, who are expected to move a lot of players by the August 3 deadline. Amick has been a borderline Top-20 prospect at Twins Daily throughout the last two years. The team's second-round pick in 2024, he was hitting .217/.338/.482 with 14 doubles, 23 homers and 72 RBIs at Double-A Wichita. He has the classic traits of a corner infielder, hitting for a low batting average while displaying a good amount of power. While he's logged time at both first and third base, Amick is projected to fit best at first base long-term considering that his range isn't great and the fact that his overall defensive profile could use some work. Agbayani, son of former big leaguer (and, specifically, New York Met) Benny Agbayani, was the Twins' sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft. The 19-year-old was limited to just 10 games this season and hit .268/.412/.342 with two doubles. He had nine walks to just three strikeouts. Unfortunately, his season began late due to injury, and after those 10 games, he went back on the IL and has not played since. While Amick is more of a power bat and doesn't offer much else, Agbayani is much more of a toolsy player, with his speed being the best attribute of his game. He's more of a contact hitter and won't hit for much power right now, but the power can certainly develop down the road considering he's still only 19 years old and has muscle to add to his 6'2", 185-pound frame. Even though Agbayani was primarily a shortstop during his high school days, industry officials think he'll project better as a second baseman due to his poor range and reaction time. The Twins were still giving him a shot at shortstop in Single-A, but he also logged innings at second base. What are your thoughts on the trade? Another lefty reliever, low-30s, with good stuff and an injury history the last few years for two intriguing prospects outside of the Twins' Top 20 prospects. View full article

Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Out of all the players that the New York Mets will likely trade before this year's deadline, Clay Holmes will draw some of the most interest from teams looking to add before the final push to the postseason. He’s in the second season of a three-year, $38 million contract that he signed entering the 2025 season -- although part of the deal included a $12 million player option for the 2027 campaign. Holmes had a good start to the 2026 season, pitching to a 2.39 ERA and 1.10 WHIP across his first nine starts before being interrupted due to a freak injury. On May 15 in a start against the New York Yankees, Spencer Jones destroyed a 111.1 mph line drive that deflected off the right leg of Holmes; it wound up fracturing his fibula, which landed him on the 60-day injured list. He recently began a rehab assignment on July 18, where Holmes has since made two minor league starts -- one in Triple-A and the most recent one in Single-A. According to Robert Murray of FanSided, scouts from the White Sox, Rays, Dodgers, Rangers, Diamondbacks, and Phillies were all in attendance to watch Holmes’ most recent rehab start on July 28 with the St. Lucie Mets. In a report from The Athletic, two executives believed Holmes looked major-league ready. With all that being said, there is certainly a hot market for the veteran right-hander despite his injury, and it wouldn’t be shocking if a deal comes together within the next week. In other words, has Holmes made his last appearance within the Mets organization? Assessing Clay Holmes' Trade Value Ahead of Deadline Holmes made his major-league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 2018 and was pretty much solely a relief pitcher until converting to a starter when joining the Mets for the 2025 season. Over a span of seven seasons from 2018-2024 between the Pirates and Yankees, only four of his 311 games came as a starting pitcher. During his time as a reliever, he primarily worked with a three-pitch mix consisting of a sinker, slider, and sweeper. After converting to a full-time starter, he added a changeup, cutter, and curveball while eliminating his slider. He still relies heavily on the sinker/sweeper combo but had to add some other offerings to better fit a starting role. Considering the amount of groundballs Holmes is able to generate (55.3%), a team with good infield defense might be the best fit in order to maximize his noticeable strength. His raw stuff isn’t bad, but batters will tend to put the ball in play. This is a result of Holmes’ not getting much swing and miss on his offerings (21.9%) which has led to a below-average 20.9% strikeout rate. Put another way, this season, opponents are making contact with 80.5% of all pitches while making contact with 90.8% of offerings in the zone -- both marks are higher than average. The weird thing about Holmes’ profile is that he limits barrels to an excellent 5.3% clip, but still manages to get hit pretty hard. His 44% hard-hit rate places him in the 13th percentile and opponents average exit velocity of 89.8 mph also puts him below average in the 28th percentile. The good thing in his case is that those hard-bit balls have only resulted in three home runs across 52.2 innings this season, good enough for an exceptional 0.5 HR/9 ratio. Even though his stuff isn’t going to overpower opponents and create lots of swing and miss, Holmes still has found ways to be effective and that’s why teams will be bidding for him over the next few days. Per Baseball Savant, all of his fastball, breaking, and off-speed run values rank at least in the 70th percentile or better. Is he outperforming his 2.39 ERA? Yes, and his 3.70 xFIP proves that, but teams will still definitely take the chance to bring in a seasoned veteran for the final few months and maybe even the postseason to bolster their rotation. His freak injury has derailed any chance of the Mets receiving a haul, but a high-upside prospect or a couple of low-level fliers should be the minimum ask from David Stearns and the front office. View full article

Image courtesy of © Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Despite having the second-highest payroll in the league, the New York Mets have not been able to put it together this season and currently sit 18 games under .500. What seemed to be a promising offseason after they brought in Freddy Peralta, Bo Bichette, and Luis Robert Jr., it’s shaping up to be another disappointing season after barely missing the postseason in 2025. With the trade deadline looming closer on Aug. 3, the Mets have found themselves in a position to be sellers while having quite a few pieces to be moved. Freddy Peralta and Tyrone Taylor are obvious candidates considering they are both on expiring contracts, but they also have a pair of relievers in A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley who would fill short-term needs in contenders' bullpens. Out of all players on the Mets roster, Minter and Raley surely have the highest chance to finish the season with another club. Being able to find good lefty relievers can sometimes be a tough task, making their respective strong seasons extremely attractive on the trade market. A.J. Minter, LHP After a dominant stretch with the Atlanta Braves from 2017 through 2024 where he posted a 3.28 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, Minter has carried over his success to the Mets since joining the club for the start of the 2025 campaign. He signed a two-year, $22 million contract leading up to the start of last season, but his year was cut short after just 13 appearances when he suffered a season ending lat injury in his throwing arm. Minter’s 2026 campaign had a delayed start while continuing to recover from his injury, but he’s since pitched to a solid 2.45 ERA across 22 innings after making his season debut on May 26. While his 2.45 ERA looks promising, his FIP sits a bit higher at a 4.11 mark due to already surrendering four home runs and only striking out 20.5% of batters. Putting that aside, the veteran has done an exceptional job controlling counts, hence his 2.3% walk rate. He won’t get hit very hard and does a good job inducing chases outside the zone, but his stuff isn’t very overwhelming and doesn’t get that many ground balls. For a veteran like Minter who’s constantly shown the ability to be reliable at the major-league level, he will be a very popular name thrown around in trade talks and teams will value what he brings to the table. That he's a southpaw capable of shutting down left-handed hitters only boosts his stock further. A top-10 organizational prospect and a low-level flier would be a reasonable price to set. Brooks Raley, LHP Raley, similar to Minter, has battled a pretty significant injury in recent times -- in May of 2024, he underwent Tommy John surgery which limited him to 32.2 between the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Since being activated last July, Raley has returned to being one of the better relievers in the game. In 37.2 innings this year spanning 42 games, Raley owns a 2.15 ERA and 1.17 WHIP while also accumulating 1.3 bWAR. The best part about Raley’s profile is his elite ability to not give up many hard-hit balls. His 4.9% barrel rate ranks in the 88th percentile while his 31.1% hard-hit rate places him in the 91st percentile -- between the pairing of those elite metrics, Raley has only allowed two home runs so far this season. He’s a deceptive lefty who throws across his body with a pretty flat 32° release point. It works well for someone who relies heavily on a sweeper and cutter. While his stuff isn’t going to generate much chase or swing and miss, Raley’s blend of breaking balls and a flat arm slot makes it hard for batters to square up. He also comes at a cheaper salary than Minter ($4.75 million compared to $11 million), meaning he could garner a slightly larger return package, though it should be comparable. View full article

Image courtesy of © Brad Penner-Imagn Images While it's impossible to prove the correlation, the New York Mets have been playing better since top prospect A.J. Ewing made his major league debut. They have since gone 6-1, after beginning the season with a disappointing 15-25 record. He joins Juan Soto and former top prospect Carson Benge who all look to anchor the Mets outfield for years to come. Once Benge and Ewing really start to consistently produce at the big-league level, the Mets could have one of the best outfield trio’s in all of baseball. Ewing started the season in the minors, starting with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies before getting promoted to the Syracuse Mets in late April. Between both levels, he owned a .339 batting average complimented by a .961 OPS. He racked up 13 extra-base hits while walking more than he struck out (22/20 ratio). Throughout his minor-league career, Ewing has made a reputation out of providing professional at-bats, hence his 14.3% walk rate and 21.8% strikeout clip. Being an on-base machine -- favoring contact over power and drawing plenty of walks -- he’ll be a nice addition to a Mets offense that ranks 29th in on-base percentage (.295). This profile we’ve come accustomed to with Ewing has carried over the majors thus far. He’s already notched his first career home run and triple. His bat speed is below average, only averaging 69.8 mph, which isn’t going to lead to much power in the future. His minimal bat speed is what’s behind his 46.2% of batted balls hit up the center. Ewing is only pulling 23.1% of balls, which is below the 37.4% league-average mark. As expected, he’ll likely be a guy who’ll be able to spray the baseball all over the yard with gap-to-gap power. So far, Ewing’s average batted-ball exit velocity hasn’t been overwhelming, averaging 88.3 mph. You can see this translate from his minor-league play, as he only hit 15 home runs over four minor league seasons with a .290 batting average. Although Ewing may not blow fans away with his power, he’ll certainly bring a fun style of play to the Mets. On top of his aforementioned hit tool, Ewing has incredible speed, topping out at 29.2 feet per second thus far with the Mets, putting him in the 95th percentile among all MLB players. He’s considered a plus defender and should be easily able to man center field effectively. He won't produce a 185 wRC+ forever, but he won't have to thanks to his speed and defense. He’s only played seven games but is sporting a .467 on-base percentage. Ewing’s excellent approach at the plate has translated well, as he’s walked seven times, equal to his number of punchouts. Ewing is doing a great job not expanding the zone only chasing 18.2% of the time -- way better than the league average 28.5% mark. He’s only squaring up 22.6% of batted balls but is still doing a good job making contact and limiting his whiff rate to 18.4%. In just his small sample size, Ewing already ranks tied for fourth among Mets hitters with 0.4 fWAR, only trailing Juan Soto (0.9), Francisco Lindor (0.6), and Francisco Alvarez (0.5). Perhaps that's an indictment on the scuffling lineup, but it's also proof that the rookie has the goods to become part of baseball's most exciting outfield in short order. View full article