What the Mets are thinking/saying ahead of the trade deadline...

David Stearns spoke about the club's pitching needs as well as where they might be going with their lineup ahead of the deadline. Also - the Mets had an inspired comeback win on Monday

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New York Post

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets came from behind to beat the Angels 7-5 at Citi Field on Monday (Box)

• The Mets rallied for five runs in the seventh and eighth innings, and took the lead in the eighth when O’Hoppe missed a catch on a throw to the plate by Yoan Moncada which allowed Brett Baty to score

• Kodai Senga started for the Mets and needed to be lifted after three innings - he allowed four runs and three walks including a home run to Logan O’Hoppe

• The Mets bullpen allowed only one run over six innings in relief of Senga

• The Mets now have 24 comeback wins, have 14 wins in their last at-bat, are now 7-38 when trailing after seven innings, and are 21-12 in series openers

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Rumor Mill 💨

• The Mets are willing to trade from their major league infield depth for lineup help or on their pitching staff (Athletic)

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Roster Moves 📰

• Recalled C Francisco Álvarez from Triple-A Syracuse

• C Hayden Senger optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

• RHP Rico García claimed off waivers from the Yankees

• RHP Dedniel Núñez transferred to the 60-day IL

• LHP Richard Lovelady sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse

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Injury Updates 🏥

• RHP Paul Blackburn (shoulder impingement) is expected to continue his rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday

• OF Starling Marte (knee soreness) is expected to be activated from the IL this week

• RHP José Butto (illness) is expected to be activated from the Il this week

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New York Post

David Stearns talks trade deadline! 🗣️

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke to the media before Monday’s game against the Angels about the club’s strategy ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, and said the following:

• The team’s main priority is finding relief help

• The Mets expect to forge ahead with their internal options at third base

• He expects the club to be engaged in the market for centerfielders, but noted any option they consider would have to significantly improve the club given the cost is so high, noting Jeff McNeil’s comfort, Tyrone Taylor’s defense and José Siri’s eventual return might stabilize the club at that position

• If the Mets are not able to find relief help on the trade market, they will consider using their pitching prospects in those roles down the stretch of the season

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Play of the Game 🌟

The Mets completed their long comeback on Monday night on a botched play by the Angels infield in the eighth inning, which allowed the Mets to score the go-ahead run.

Ronny Mauricio hit a groundball to Yoan Moncada who threw the ball to the left of home plate, but Logan O’Hoppe couldn’t catch the ball as Brett Baty crossed the path to his right, which allowed him to score and the Mets to take the lead for good.

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Edwin Díaz! 💪

• He is one of 11 pitchers in MLB history to record at least 20 saves in at least seven of their first nine seasons since saves became an official statistic in 1969. He joins Craig Kimbrel, Jonathan Papelbon, Troy Percival, Trevor Hoffman, Bruce Sutter, Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, Huston Street, and Robb Nen as the only such pitchers to accomplish that feat

• His 800 career strikeouts in 492.1 IP is the fourth-fewest innings to reach the milestone for any pitcher in MLB history, including starters AND relievers. Others: Chapman, Josh Hader and Craig Kimbrel (Elias)

• Now has 497 strikeouts as a Met, passing Jesse Orosco for the second-most strikeouts among relievers in Mets history (John Franco: 592 K)

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Down on the Farm 🌾

All Mets minor league affiliates were off on Monday.

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (57-44) vs. Angels (49-51)

Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Frankie Montas (2-1, 5.03 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.88 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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A big win, and where the Mets might be headed at the trade deadline… ✍️

AP Photo

Monday night’s game was as refreshing of a win as the Mets have had in recent memory.

The game got off to what has unfortunately become a typical start when the Mets fell behind early, significantly at that, and it seemed like it was going to be another night the starter was going to struggle, the Mets bullpen was going to get overtaxed and run over, and the offense was going to sleepwalk through another loss.

Unfortunately, it’s gotten to a point where such games are expected.

But on this night, the Mets got a boost from Francisco Álvarez who sparked the offense late with a booming double in the right-center field gap. Yeah, maybe the ball should’ve been caught and he was a little lucky it didn’t, but the process for Álvarez was good, as has been the case since he went to the minors in late June, and he was rewarded for the good process with a ball that somehow got down after being somewhat misplayed.

An argument can possibly be made that the reformed Álvarez at the bottom of the lineup helped spark significant production down there, as four of the club’s six hits came from 6-9 in the order on Monday night. It remains to be seen if they can build upon that production and in turn get the top of this lineup going, which has been a barren desert for the past couple of weeks, specifically from Francisco Lindor who is, quite frankly, rather lost at the plate right now.

Anyway, good win for the club. The bullpen held the fort after a shaky start from Kodai Senga, that which was probably the unheralded hero (collectively) for the Mets on Monday night. Without a shutdown performance, their five-run rally in the seventh and eighth innings might’ve not mattered in the end.

Now, onto some trade deadline talk, that which deserves a lot of air time after David Stearns spoke to the media on this subject on Monday afternoon. He gave me a few notable talking points for today’s newsletter…

Centerfield

Stearns made some striking remarks about the club’s perspective on upgrading this position. He noted Jeff McNeil’s increased comfort out there, José Siri’s return from a broken leg, and Tyrone Taylor’s defense as potential reasons why they won’t upgrade here. He said the upgrade needs to be significant in order for the Mets to make a move on this position.

Now, that could be posturing. That could be Stearns signaling the cost in prospect capital is exorbitant. It could mean the options really aren’t that appealing. It could be a combination of all three.

But these are Steve Cohen’s Mets. And Steve Cohen’s Mets in 2025 have produced a .610 OPS at this position in 2025, including but not limited to a .326 SLG.

That just won’t fly if the Mets want to get to the playoffs. Period, end of story. Steve Cohen’s Mets are always endeavoring to be like the Dodgers, right? And the Dodgers are always able to use creativity when upgrading their holes and their massive holes at that.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything internal right now that’s going to solve that .610 OPS in centerfield. McNeil is not an everyday centerfielder, Taylor has been a blank offensively, and who knows when Siri is getting back, not to mention what his all-or-nothing and low on-base resume will provide them.

Third Base (and back to centerfield)

In no way am I surprised by Stearns’ comments on moving forward with what they have at third. I’ve been saying this is the likely path forward in 2025 for the Mets - they have three options at third, albeit three options which haven’t stood out, and the market for third basemen this month isn’t going to be favorable for them to upgrade.

Yes, there’s Eugenio Suárez, and that would be a great acquisition in theory. But this always comes down to supply vs. demand. This year, the supply is very short, and the demand is high for third basemen, especially with Boston positioning themselves as a buyer, meaning Alex Bregman is likely to stay there through the end of the year. That means the cost for someone like Suárez - who is a power first player - is going to be high, and the Yankees are going to be all in on that one as well.

Having said that, the Mets need to upgrade at either third or in center. They can’t forge ahead as-is with this floundering offense. So if there is an opportunity to land Suárez, the Mets just have to do it. And if they can, they can potentially afford to play around with what they have in centerfield and go with a defense-first approach in Taylor and eventually Siri, or as they drew it up during the off-season.

Bullpen

Yeah, no kidding here. They’re finding multiple arms for this area of the roster. Don’t buy Stearns’ comments on them potentially using prospects to fill this void. There are plenty of shutdown options available in this market. Plenty.

Think Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, Danny Coulombe, pitchers of this ilk on the likely sellers, which all have attractive relief options.

Rotation

I still believe the Mets are going to be big players in this market. They have a lot of issues here as far as getting quality length from their starters and depth behind their top-of-depth-chart arms. It’s also really unclear how they’re going to handle Clay Holmes, who appears to be fading right now, so they need to address this area of the roster if they plan on a deep run into October. Also, Kodai Senga continues to be high maintenance, Frankie Montas remains an unknown quantity for them, and they’re still ramping Sean Manaea up after he missed the first half of this season. The only steady and stable arm in the rotation right now is David Peterson, and that assumes he and everyone else stays healthy.

There’s a lot of noise about them being in play for Mitch Keller, who fits them perfectly. He’s available and has a contract that few teams might be willing to take on (the other obvious fits include the Yankees and Dodgers, of course). If the Mets are willing to include one of their controllable major league infielders and the Pirates also deal Ke’Bryan Hayes, for instance, there could be a potential match here for the Mets to land Keller, as the Yankees don’t really have a quality and controllable major league option for Pittsburgh to take at third.

That would, of course, assume the Pirates would be interested in that scenario along with a prospect from the Mets.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Brewers rattled off their 11th straight win in a 6-0 shutout of the Mariners - they now have the best record in MLB

• The Dodgers course-corrected with a 5-2 win over the Twins thanks in part to homers from Andy Pages, Shohei Ohtani, and Will Smith

• Zack Wheeler struck out 10 batters over six innings as the Phillies edged the Red Sox 3-2

• The Blue Jays pushed their lead to four games in the AL East with a 4-1 win over the Yankees