Mets can't wait for the trade deadline. They need to make a move now

New York Times

8 hours ago

NEW YORK — Ryne Stanek pumped both arms and let out a yell alongside the 42,000-plus at Citi Field. He had just struck out the heart of one of the hottest offenses in baseball, completing a four-up, four-down outing that was a critical part of the Mets' 3-2 win over the Brewers.
Edwin Díaz had done the same in a four-out save Wednesday night. That the Mets are asking this much out of their leverage relievers, each in back-to-back appearances no less, in early July spells out what has become clearer and clearer this past week.
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The Mets cannot afford to wait until the trade deadline to make a move. More than doing something big on July 31, they need to do something now.
Wins on Wednesday and Thursday night were refreshing reminders of what this team is capable of — an offensive outburst against an excellent starter one night, a comprehensive pitching performance against a streaking offense the next.
But before those two wins, the Mets had lost 14 of their previous 17 games. Diehards can probably do the math offhand: That's two games worse than the 5-12 finish to 2007 that constituted one of the sport's most memorable collapses. (Such stretches are not disqualifying, it's worth noting. The 2023 Rangers and 2000 Yankees each won the World Series after similar funks, and on those occasions, it happened later in the season.)
David Stearns' track record proves he's unafraid to move aggressively early in the season. While leading the Brewers, he famously traded for Willy Adames in May. Last season, he added Phil Maton to a flagging Mets bullpen in the second week of July. Earlier this year, Stearns told The Athletic, 'I am probably even more inclined to action now as I have gone throughout my career. I have gotten to the point where I would rather make mistakes of commission rather than mistakes of omission.'
'Anytime you can bring in a player to your organization that makes you better, it's great to do,' Stearns said Thursday. 'We're going to explore every avenue we can and see what's out there.'
Major-league sources have indicated that the Mets have been active in attempting to jump the market and make a move early. There are reasons, though, that trades are rarely made in the first half of July. Allow Stearns to explain.
'The first is you need a dance partner, and those don't always emerge the first couple weeks of July,' Stearns said Thursday. 'For the better of the sport, we have more playoff teams that keep more teams in it longer and fewer teams inclined to trade valuable major-league players early in the month before they get a clearer picture of their competitive state.
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'The second hurdle is, because of everything I just said, the prices for players who are available can be prohibitively high. And you can walk yourself into a pretty foolish deal, and we're not going to do that. We're certainly active in discussions, but it's early.'
While the roster has sprouted leaks like a failing dam over these last three weeks, it's the bullpen that requires rebar right now. Yes, the need in the rotation is acute; the Mets are planning to pitch Justin Hagenman, Frankie Montas and Brandon Waddell this weekend against the Yankees. (Diehards can be forgiven here for not knowing two of those names offhand.) But Stearns was right when he called it a short-term issue Thursday. New York could have Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga and Paul Blackburn all back in the rotation by the start of the second half, nine games from now.
Outside of rehabbing left-hander Brooks Raley, there are no impending reinforcements in the bullpen. In fact, it suffered a critical blow Thursday, when the Mets placed right-hander Dedniel Núñez on the injured list with a right elbow sprain and acknowledged that Núñez may need a second Tommy John surgery. The timing is terrible: Since his last recall from the minors, Núñez had looked more like the key contributor he'd been for months last summer — an arm capable of picking up the late-inning slack. Now, he may join A.J. Minter and Danny Young as relievers lost for the season.
Díaz shut it down 🎺 #LGM pic.twitter.com/g6kDDAVp1A
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 4, 2025
Before turning back to Stanek the last two nights, the Mets had relied heavily on Reed Garrett and Huascar Brazobán as Edwin Díaz's primary set-up men this season, and both have been hit hard of late, which is putting it politely. That pair had combined for a 1.04 ERA through June 2; they've combined for a 15.95 mark since.
While it's difficult to add this early, as Stearns showed last year in acquiring Maton from Tampa Bay and Stanek from a contending Seattle team, there are ways to be creative. To get a quality reliever in Maton from a team that was one game under .500 at the time of the trade, the Mets only had to take on his contract. They could try to pull that same lever with, say, the Orioles' Andrew Kittredge, who's owed $4.25 million the rest of this season plus a $1 million buyout of a club option. Kittredge owns a 2.67 ERA since 2021. He is not always healthy, but he is right now, and that's a significant data point for the Mets' needs.
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And while the teams that are totally out of it are not exactly teeming with desirable players, there are several solid relief options in Colorado, Pittsburgh, Miami and Washington. Those include more recognizable names like David Bednar and Kyle Finnegan, as well as more under-the-radar possibilities like Tyler Kinley and Anthony Bender.
The series win over Milwaukee permits the Mets' players and coaches a chance to exhale, however briefly, before the Subway Series. The front office has no such luxury. The time to make a move is now.