As sell-off looms, Mets leaders, players cope with unsettled reality

NEW YORK — David Stearns has barely seen all of the members of the team he constructed on the field at the same time, but that reality is fleeting.

As injuries mounted and underperformance permeated the Mets in 2026, the looming reality that the club might never meet its grand expectations has come to pass. And now, with the Aug. 3 trade deadline a little more than a week away, the stark realization of an overhaul cast a pall on the Mets season.

“I think we have to be open-minded. We’ve been very clear, Steve (Cohen’s) been very clear that we expect to compete in 2027 —  we have to keep that in mind,” Stearns said. “We also have to make moves that that we believe are right for the organization, and so we’re sitting here nine, 10 days out for the deadline, and we’re not going to close any paths down right now.

Now, the team that Stearns pieced together this offseason with the belief that a World Series could be attainable will be systematically dismantled. With two months left in the season, the sights have turned toward the future.

“This season didn’t go as we anticipated. It’s extremely disappointing,” Stearns said. “I am extremely disappointed that we are in this situation, but I am also very aware we are in this situation. It’s my job to do what’s in the best interest of the organization right now.”

With the Mets sitting at 43-61 following Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Dodgers, they are at their lowest point in the 2026 season. They have the fifth-worst record in Major League Baseball.

The clear trade pieces are the team’s expiring contracts in Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter and Freddy Peralta. Additional intrigue comes from quality players like Luke Weaver, who is under team control for one more year at $11, and Clay Holmes who has a $12 million player option for 2027.

Rumors have swirled about the availability of a cornerstone piece like Francisco Lindor, who still has five years left on his $341 million contract beyond this year.

“I’m not going to rule out or in any specific player on anything,” Stearns said. “I don’t think that’s wise for me to do. What I will say is, we’ve got a group of young players and we’ve got some potential Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers, that we view as our core, and we expect them to be our core.”

The past two seasons have forced the Mets’ front office to reevaluate it’s processes after they closed with a 28-37 record in the second half of 2025 and followed it up with this season’s calamity.

Those consistent shortfalls make this deadline of pivotal importance for Stearns and the club’s leadership grou.p

“It leaves you in a place of determining where we can do better. It will continue to be an ongoing process, and I do think we will get better through this,” Stearns said. “There are also some elements that I believe we’re doing well under the surface. But as I’ve said many times before, at the end of the day, we’re judged by major league wins, and our major league wins, major league record, have not been good enough now for a full year, and I am very much aware of that.”

With a number of players in the crosshairs of trade speculation, Mets interim manager Andy Green has felt the need to open up the lines of communication with his players.

“We’re all our best when we’re present for what we have in front of us each day and we try not to think a week or two weeks down the road, but when it involves a family, when it involves your work location, when it involves your life in general and your livelihood, it’s human to get consumed with those types of things,” Green said. “I have those conversations with every guy that name gets bandied about, I tend to go and say, ‘I’m not going to bring this up, but if you want to talk about anything, I’ll tell you everything I know at any moment you’d like to know it.”

One of those players is Holmes, who made his first rehab start on Thursday as he works back from a fractured fibula.

It is a unique situation for Holmes, who has not pitched in a major league game since May 15 but could be a hot commodity if he’s healthy, given his 4-4 record, 2.39 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in his nine starts before the injury.

Holmes is poised to make at least one more rehab start then could line up for a outing with the Mets immediately before the deadline. He noted that there has not been a whole lot of traction on potential extension talks and now his next start could come with another team.

“Sometimes it’s easy to let your mind wander and there’s a lot of things that you can’t really control,” Holmes said. “You do know that there’ll be some impact on your future, but I think just as an athlete, especially me right now, I want to be pitching my best whether that’s here or somewhere else these last two months.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: As sell-off looms, Mets leaders, players cope with unsettled reality