The New York Mets’ needs have begun materializing with a little under a month-and-a-half to go before the July 31 trade deadline passes.
Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon, the club is looking for reinforcements in both center field and the bullpen. Furthermore, they added that there’s some speculation of larger, pricier targets emerging down the line.
“The Mets are monitoring the market for help in center field and the bullpen, league sources said. Speculatively, other possible and more expensive targets such as a frontline starter may emerge,” they wrote.
New York acquired Jose Siri from the Tampa Bay Rays in the offseason, though he’s appeared in just 10 games this season after fracturing his tibia against the Athletics on April 12. It seemed as though the 29-year-old was progressing rather quickly, but he was shut down from baseball activities last week, and it’s unknown when he will return.
Tyrone Taylor has subsequently operated as the Mets’ everyday center fielder, and while he’s slashing just .237/.300/.348 with two home runs across 219 plate appearances, he’s posted 1.0 fWAR due to his stellar defensive work. Over 512 innings, the former Milwaukee Brewer has logged five Defensive Runs Saved and four Outs Above Average.
New York still believes it could use a boost at the position, however, and with few tantalizing major league-ready options in the minors at the moment, its likeliest path to an upgrade would be through the trade market.
The team’s bullpen, which boasted the second-lowest ERA of any unit across the league through the end of May at 2.87, has seen that figure jump up to 4.29 in June thus far. The Mets could certainly use a left-handed reliever considering both A.J. Minter and Danny Young are out for the year, though José Castillo has performed admirably as the group’s only southpaw with a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings after coming over from the Arizona Diamondbacks last month.
New York addressed the bullpen in a major way at last year’s deadline by acquiring Phil Maton, Huascar Brazobán and Ryne Stanek, the latter two of whom returned this season and have struggled in their recent outings, while also bringing in Tyler Zuber as organizational depth.
Rosenthal and Sammon noted that the Mets are expected to “leverage” the pitching talent across their farm system at the deadline, much like they did in 2024, as a means of bringing in the necessary players for a postseason push.
“Look for the New York Mets to again leverage their pitching-rich farm system,” they wrote.
“After trading multiple minor-league pitchers last year, the Mets possess enough attractive arms in their farm system to supplement their roster without dealing their top pitching prospects, rival evaluators familiar with the organization said.”
