Mets trade deadline rumors: Open for business — now what?

PHILADELPHIA — As the Mets embrace reality — at 41-57, they won’t be making the playoffs (FanGraphs gives them 1.1% odds) — New York has an opportunity to capitalize on a seller’s market that hasn’t completely developed yet as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches.

Chelsea Janes of SNY and Jon Heyman of the New York Post both reported Thursday that the Mets are ready to start making moves. That means they could act aggressively as they begin to take calls from buyers.

Let’s say one team is desperate for a late-inning reliever. Maybe another needs to bolster the top of their starting rotation. Knowing the Mets are already open to making deals, there’s no reason for those clubs not to reach out now, even if there are 18 days remaining until the deadline.

The incentive for contenders would be to get an early start. If a trade comes to fruition, the acquiring team gets that new piece from the Mets for more games than they would if they waited until right before the deadline buzzer. After all, there are only so many teams selling these days with the expanded playoffs.

“They might be able to negotiate some decent overpays in what’s expected to be an extreme sellers’ market,” Heyman wrote on Thursday.

If there’s an offer they like, the Mets have little reason to wait.

As one American League executive pointed out to NJ.com recently, however, the Mets may benefit from staying patient.

“You’ve got one team coming after a certain player right now, and you’re gonna have 10 teams coming after that player a few weeks from now,” said the executive, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about an opposing team. “That said, you probably can get a better price a few weeks from now.”

The exec added: “It all comes down to your team’s assessment of the player’s value and whether the team that’s trying to jump the market is paying fair value, or even above fair value to get that player early.”

Perhaps the perfect scenario, in that sense, is for the Mets to have multiple contenders reach out in short order to start the bidding for certain players. That way, the price will begin to rise early with two-plus weeks remaining until the deadline. That puts the Mets in the driver’s seat. If they like a deal sooner than later, they have an ability to squeeze out more value in negotiations and get that trade across the finish line. If not, they can sit back and wait for another club to meet their needs, possibly out of desperation.

The number of moves the Mets make in the next two and a half weeks remains to be seen. Players on expiring deals are widely expected to be traded. That list includes relievers A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley. Starting pitchers Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes are both poised to enter free agency this winter, barring extensions.

From there, the Mets have multiple assets with team control extending beyond this season who will be coveted on the open market. New York could get a haul for a pitcher like Luke Weaver, a reliever having a career year with one additional season of control in 2027. The same can be said for position players like Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio, if the Mets decide to do more than listen on all those players.

Here’s some advice for the Mets from that AL exec: “If I worked there, I would sell it all. Anybody who’s not really going to be part of that next Mets championship team, now’s the moment to get rid of them. Get firepower for the future, or even if it’s going to be a short-term retooling kind of thing, it’s still better to cash out and get future assets, because you can always spin those back around whenever baseball picks back up for next year.”

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