The New York Mets sit among baseball's worst teams, but that doesn't mean they're ready to blow things up.
President of baseball operations David Stearns still believes in his club and insisted the Mets' current deficit won't speed up the decision on whether they'll be deadline buyers or sellers.
"At some point, you get close enough to the deadline where you have to make a decision," Stearns told reporters Friday at Citi Field, according to SNY. "We don't believe we're there yet. We don't believe we're anywhere close to that yet."
The Mets, who field MLB's most expensive roster, entered play Friday sitting last in the NL East at 23-33 with a minus-29 run differential. They own the third-worst record in the National League and are 14.5 games back of first place.
New York is missing six everyday players, the most notable being star shortstop Francisco Lindor, who hasn't played since mid-April due to a calf injury. Offseason additions Luis Robert Jr. and Jorge Polanco have also been sidelined since April.
But injuries don't completely account for the Mets' overall poor play. Bo Bichette, the team's biggest winter signing, is mired in the worst slump of his career, while fellow newcomer Devin Williams has been maddeningly inconsistent in the ninth inning. As a team, the Mets have blown 14 leads. They slogged through a 12-game losing streak in early April that helped push them into their current hole.
If the Mets do sell before the Aug. 3 deadline, they'd have at least one intriguing piece to offer contenders in ace Freddy Peralta. The right-hander, a pending free agent, has been solid for the Mets after joining them in an offseason trade and could fetch some prospects to restock the farm system. Williams, Bichette (who has a full no-trade clause), and reliever Luke Weaver could potentially hear their names in the rumor mill if things continue to unravel.
Still, Stearns has faith that his players and manager Carlos Mendoza will be able to right this ship. He said that the last week of May is too early to wave the white flag and start making phone calls, regardless of the standings.
"I do still think it's (too) early to have very robust trade discussions," Stearns said. "I think if you look at the history of midseason acquisitions, we really are talking about the majority taking place in a very concentrated period: after the All-Star break and close to the end of the month in July. We're still a long ways away from that.
"Is there a specific set of circumstances this year that maybe accelerates that? I think that's possible, but we haven't seen that yet."
