New York, New York
By John Jastremski
sports@queensledger.com
When your baseball team is 15 plus games under .500 after the All Star Break, an inevitable conversation is brought to the table.
Who can be had? Who is on the move? Who can you sell?
The Mets will be forced to answer these questions over the next three weeks before the August 3rd trade deadline.
There are some obvious names that are most certainly to be dealt between now and then.
If you’re in the last year of your contract and you won’t be a part of the long term plans, expect to be moved.
Freddie Peralta on Line 1. Luis Robert on Line 2.
If you are a reliever that is almost certain to help a contender, more than likely, you too can expect to be moved.
Brooks Raley and AJ Minter are almost guaranteed to be wearing a different uniform by then.
Luke Weaver is under contract for 2027, but if the price is right, make the deal.
Most of these conversations appear pretty obvious, there’s also one more element that’s crystal clear to me:
The August 3rd trade deadline would be the absolute worst time to dangle Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor in trade talks.
I understand there are a lot of negative narratives surrounding Lindor at the moment.
Yes, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto are not pals.
Yes, Francisco Lindor has had his head in the clouds all season.
Oh & yes, Francisco Lindor is in the middle of his worst season as a big leaguer.
All of this is accurate, but it also means it’s quite possibly the worst time to entertain the idea of dealing away the longest tenured Met.
Francisco Lindor’s value has never been lower.
I refuse to believe that as a player he is completely cooked considering less than 2 years ago he was the runner up to the MVP and put together one of the best offensive seasons in the history of the franchise.
If Francisco Lindor and the Mets are beyond repair, the conversation can be had in the offseason.
It will be a Steve Cohen and Francisco Lindor sit down that will determine if it’s time to move on.
That time is not within the next 3 weeks.
I’m sure there will be rumors and a lot more conversation.
Don’t make a short sighting decision. The time is not now to trade Francisco Lindor.
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame.
