The New York Mets have fallen far behind what lofty expectations predicted for the club at the beginning of the season. The organization still sits 13 games out of first place behind the Washington Nationals, and 11 games behind in the wild card. Fans and management have been waiting for the breakout to propel the Mets as have happened the two previous seasons, but that moment has not come. As the Mets continue to completely fade out of the division picture and even further behind the wild card race, general manager Sandy Alderson has no choice but to be a seller at the MLB Trade Deadline.
What makes this intriguing is that there are a plethora of players who are in the last year of their deals. The club brought bought mostly the exact same roster from the 2016 season. Rene Rivera, Lucas Duda, Neil Walker, Jose Reyes, Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce, Addison Reed, and Fernando Salas will all be free agents at the end of the season. Asdrubal Cabrera has a club option for next season. All these players play a significant role and losing them for nothing would hurt the club in the future. Being sellers at the deadline would help bring back talent and also give younger players a chance to excel.
Cabrera could also both be moved to make room for Amed Rosario and Gavin Cecchini. That seemingly reflects not only the fairly robust demand but also the team’s assessment of its interest (or lack thereof) in bringing Cabrera back for 2018 through a club option. Aside from Cabrera and Addison Reed, the Mets are said to be receiving middling interest in their pending free agents — despite the fact that all are playing rather well. Duda, Bruce, Granderson, and Walker could each help a contender down the stretch, making them plausible August trade pieces.
The New York Mets should be sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline. There are far too many players on their last year of their contract to let them all walk, especially when Sandy will not bring most of them back next year.