Exploring the Mets trade candidates this summer

Plus - Kodai Senga was solid in relief, but the Mets wasted his effort in their loss to the Phillies

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets lost the rubber match if their three-game series against the Phillies by a score of 5-4 on Sunday (box)

• The Mets went with a bullpen game on Sunday, using both Tobias Myers and Kodai Senga as multi-inning relievers - they combined to allow all five runs over eight innings out of the bullpen

• The Mets did erase a 3-0 deficit thanks in part to a two-run home run from AJ Ewing as part of a three-run sixth inning, and actually held a 4-3 lead going to the seventh

• Kyle Schwarber hit his MLB-best 30th home run in the seventh, a two-run shot to put the Phillies up for good

• The Mets went just 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on-base

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Injury Updates 🩺

• RHP Clay Holmes (broken leg) began throwing off flat ground this past week - he hopes to progress to throwing off a mound in the coming week

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Play of the Game ☹️

After the Mets took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth, Kodai Senga allowed a two-run home run to Kyle Schwarber in the seventh inning, putting the Phillies up 5-4, a lead they would not relinquish.

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The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️

On the latest edition of the Just Mets Podcast, Rich and Andrew recap another disappointing week, Carlos Mendoza’s dismissal, and a bleak preview of the week ahead against the Blue Jays and Braves.

SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• RHP Jack Wenninger (no. 4 prospect, AAA): 5 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K

• C Chris Suero (no. 13 prospect, AA): 2-for-4, 2 2B, 4 R

• INF Mitch Voit (no. 5 prospect, High-A): 2-for-3, BB K

• C Chase Meggers (Low-A): 3-for-4, R, RBI

BOX SCORES

Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (35-49) vs. Blue Jays (39-45)

Where: Rogers Centre - Toronto, Ontario

Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (1-2, 4.87 ERA) vs. RHP Trey Yesavage (3-3, 3.56 ERA)

When: 7:07 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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Kodai Senga’s encouraging outing, and the winds of change are coming ✍️

New York Post

So, Sunday’s game was just a little bit more than aggravating, but not necessarily unexpected given the way this season has gone for the Mets.

They left 14 runners on base, with both Brett Baty and Francisco Álvarez each stranding two with runners in scoring position over the course of the afternoon. They had their chances and blew most of them, especially late and especially after the Phillies took the lead for good in the seventh inning.

But, they’re a last-place team, and these are the things that last-place teams with a lot of bad players do. So, again, not terribly unexpected.

Aside from that, it really wasn’t a bad game. AJ Ewing and Carson Benge continued their ascent with some big hits, and even though it was a bullpen game, there were some talking points too.

One of those talking points was Kodai Senga.

Aside from that one bad, back-breaking pitch to Kyle Schwarber in the seventh, that might have been one of his best outings in the last 365 days and unquestionably an important step in the right direction for the beleaguered right-hander.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect of him today. It was pretty clear he was going to be used as a bulk reliever, but all he has really shown in the last year that he is anything but a major-league pitcher at this point in his career. I have found him to be way too cerebral during games, too focused on mechanics and release point, and footwork and all of this and that and the other which has subtracted from his competitiveness, thereby subtracting from his effectiveness. It’s almost as if he forgets he’s actually pitching in a game out there and is competing with major-league hitters.

But today, he was very effective outside of that one pitch to Schwarber, and it was encouraging to see that from a guy who has just looked and sounded like a beaten athlete over the last couple of years.

The adjustment he made was clear today - he incorporated his forkball more and his fastball less, and he found a good combination to keep the Philadelphia offense largely off-balanced. Yeah, it helps that his forkball was actually effective today, but that’s the pitch that got him here and made him so effective in his rookie season in 2023. He has gotten away from that pitch this season, his cutter and sweeper more, which is not his game at all.

Imagn Images

The good news for Senga during this mysterious malaise he’s been in over the last year is the stuff hasn’t diminished. It’s just that he got away from what made him a quality major league pitcher. So, hopefully, this adjustment is a good first step back into being a relevant pitcher for this team.

The problem for the Mets, of course, is between Senga and Tobias Myers, the Mets are down two pitchers for the next four days, at least. Myers threw 59 pitches, Senga threw 80 pitches, so the Mets are going to have to make a roster move to get a fresh arm into the mix. That could mean Myers - who has been struggling with his secondary pitches - might need to go down for the time being.

As for the week that has just passed, the club has lost eight of their last nine games, they fired their manager in-between, and the tumult only got more tumultuous. And, the results didn’t really change, either.

The pitching still stinks, the offense still doesn’t function, the rotation is still in shambles.

A lot of people think that firing the manager will immediately result in a spark that ultimately fires up a team. It works sometimes - it worked with the Phillies when they fired Joe Girardi in 2023 and replaced him with Rob Thomson, and it worked again when they fired Thomson earlier this year and replaced him with Don Mattingly.

But, most of the time it doesn’t work. And there is no reason to expect it to work with these Mets, especially when they’ve routinely started two of the worst players in baseball in Baty and Mark Vientos. No managerial change is going to alter what they bring to the table at this point, nor is it going to change the general underperformance of their starting rotation.

That part is up to the players.

I think we all realize now that in about a month, the major league roster for the Mets is going to look vastly different than it does today, and that probably isn’t a bad thing. I fully expect Freddy Peralta to be moved within 3-4 weeks. I expect AJ Minter to garner interest and potentially get moved, as well as Huascar Brazoban, Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver. I also expect the Mets to bring some of their pitching prospects to the major leagues at some point after the deadline because, well, why not at that point?

New York Post

Moving Peralta would make room for one of Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger. Given they’re going with bullpen games now, they should arguably be promoting one of them to fill that spot now, and bring the other one up here when they find a taker for Peralta.

What if the Mets could find a taker for Clay Holmes? He’s throwing again, which is great news considering it looked like he could be done for the year after he broke his leg on a comebacker in mid-May. If he’s somehow six weeks away, or even eight weeks away from pitching again, there will be a contending team interested in acquiring him, for sure. The question is, how realistic is that? That’s something to keep an eye on over the next month.

As for position players, the only players who should be off the table are Juan Soto, AJ Ewing, Carson Benge, and Francisco Lindor. That doesn’t mean they’re going to hold a fire sale - they don’t exactly have a lot of attractive pieces for contenders to consider. But perhaps someone like Tyrone Taylor can be attractive to a contender as a fourth outfielder/defensive replacement. Jared Young could be an interesting piece as a left-handed hitting utility player. That’s not to say they’re going to cash in on either of those guys, but jettisoning them off the roster even for a middling prospect affords opportunities to players they need to be looking at for 2027 and beyond.

Bo Bichette is a tough sell given his salary and contract situation. It’s not about this season - the Mets have already paid him $41 million of his $42 million salary thanks to the $40 million signing bonus he received on March 15. But, he has a full no-trade clause, he can opt-out and re-enter free agency either this year or next, or not and take a $42 million salary in 2027 and then do it again or opt out ahead of the 2028 season. And, he gets $5 million if he opts out.

Getty Images

He has been a lot better in the last six weeks, but he is still well off his career marks - his .688 OPS for the year is 106 points lower than his career average. He hasn’t been good defensively this year at either third or shortstop, but he’s been better than he was last season. But, in the age of run prevention combined with his disappointing season at the plate, he’s going to be a difficult player to move ahead of the trade deadline. But, if a team that fits can feel good about Bichette opting out, then he could be attractive as a right-handed designated hitter and therefore moveable if he approves a move.

The next month for Bichette will be big, as in he has to have a big month and become an attractive piece for this to even be an option.

Once the club is done with the trade deadline, they’re going to have to decide what’s best for this franchise. David Stearns and his front office have made one misstep after another over the last 20 months with the major league roster, they’ve made controversial move after controversial move that has blown up in their faces, and they really don’t have a lot of wins outside of Holmes, Juan Soto, and Luke Weaver since the end of the 2024 season.

I don’t think there’s a quick fix to this, either. After all, they tried the quick fix path this past winter, and look at where they are.

And, with a lockout looming and what seems like inevitable change to the ways owners like Steve Cohen can spend their money on the major league roster, this could take a lot longer to fix than we might realize today.

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Around the League 🚩

• Pete Alonso hit his 19th home run of the year, but the Orioles fell to the Nationals 6-4

• Junior Caminero had three hits including his 22nd home run of the year as the Rays coasted to a 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks

• Robbie Ray allowed an unearned run over eight innings as the Giants edged Chris Sale and the Braves 3-2