In the middle of a rain delay, as the Mets were working on a comeback versus the Washington Nationals, the team traded David Robertson—their best reliever—to the Miami Marlins. In return, they got infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez, both of who will end up as top 15 prospects in the Mets’ system.

Shipping off your best reliever—and the best one on the trade market—indicates a sell-off. But how much more will the Mets do between Friday and Tuesday’s trade deadline? Let’s look at a couple of routes the Mets could take.

Justin Verlander. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Let Everyone Go

Justin Verlander. Tommy Pham. Daniel Vogelbach. Mark Canha. You name it. If a team wants a veteran, the Mets should eat whatever remaining cash is on their contract, and they should beef up their farm system.

Should the Mets trade Verlander (which wouldn’t be wise given the starting pitcher free agent market this offseason), the Rangers are currently “front runners.” Eat his money this year and most of next and get a top guy from the Rangers.

If you’re going to sell, don’t take a half-measure, right?

Only Trade If The Deal Is Right

The prospect return for David Robertson was too good to pass up. Vargas is a fringe top 100 guy, and Hernandez has looked great in the Florida Complex League since coming stateside. (Don’t follow along with MLB Pipeline’s current rankings. Sam Dykstra, who leads Pipeline, said he’d rank Vargas sixth in the Mets’ system right now, and that would likely be updated to better after their August update.) All of that for two months of a 38-year-old reliever who they can resign in November? That’s hard to say no to.

They could take the same approach with the likes of Verlander, Pham, and others. What if, instead of the Mets eating the money, the Rangers take on the rest of Verlander’s contract for next year, and they offer up Jack Leiter, Brock Porter, or, dare, Kumar Rocker? It’s a sellers market, with nearly 20 teams still fighting for playoff spots and half a dozen teams in real contention for a World Series title. The Mets could have leverage with

If they aren’t gonna be full sellers, they should only trade guys if the return is overwhelming.

Stand Pat

Is there a chance Robertson is the only move? Again, the return was too good to say no to. And if the Mets are going to make any playoff push, it won’t be because of guys they’d been rumored to trade (Pham, Canha, etc.)—it’d be because Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Max Scherzer, and Starling Marte played like their 2022 selves for the next two months. That, plus Pham returning to the lineup, could mean the team makes an earnest push.

This is probably the least likely scenario, given there’s four months of data showing the stars on this year’s squad just aren’t performing like they did last year—it’s not just bad luck. The team can decide to do nothing.

But if they decide they aren’t sellers, and, say, by the end of the weekend, they’re 5-6 games back of the Wild Card, could they actually…

Could They Actually Buy?

There’s no way the Mets trade for guys with the goal of being a contender this year, right?

Without Robertson, the Mets could roll with a closer-by-committee bullpen with Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley. They’ve combined in July for just three earned runs over 16 innings (1.69 ERA). Sam Coonrod, who was lights out in spring and has been again on his rehab assignment, should be back with the team after the trade deadline. And maybe they trade for some middle relievers who have control beyond this year, too? All of this could lessen the impact of losing Robertson.

Then, they could go into full-on buy mode and really go for a playoff spot. Jonathan India? Josh Hader? Blake Snell? Jack Flaherty? Any of those guys would probably make this year’s team better for the next two months. This is the kind of hope that can get teams into trouble and impact their plan for the following year, though. But stranger things have happened. (Remember Brodie van Wagenen’s 2019 deadline?)

Whatever road the Mets choose, there’s around 100 hours until the trade deadline. Those forks are coming up quickly.