The New York Mets just got swept by the Chicago Cubs. Their record sits at 34-47. They’re last in the NL East at the halfway point of the 2026 season. And the trade deadline is a month away. Put it all together and the picture is pretty clear.
This is a team that’s going to sell.
Manager Carlos Mendoza isn’t hiding from that. After Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Cubs, he was asked directly about the possibility of becoming sellers. His answer didn’t dance around anything.
“That’s the reality, especially if we don’t start playing better. We’ve got to be honest here. But we can’t be thinking about ‘what if.’ Our job is to do what we need to do now,” Mendoza told reporters, via SNY.
Translation? The Mets know where this is headed. They just can’t let the front office’s decisions distract them from actually playing the games. Easier said than done when your season is already drifting into irrelevance.
Who’s on the trade block in Queens?
The Mets already made one move this week. They shipped pitcher David Peterson to the Cubs on Wednesday, right in the middle of the four-game series. That was a veteran piece they won’t miss much in the long-term picture. But there are bigger names who could be wearing different uniforms by August.
Freddy Peralta is the obvious candidate. He’s a starting pitcher in the final year of his contract. Contenders always need arms, and Peralta would slot into pretty much any rotation. The Mets would get something useful back for him.
Kodai Senga is a tougher sell. His ERA is north of 10. That’s not a typo. A guy with that kind of season isn’t fetching much on the trade market, even if the Mets wanted to move on. They probably do. They just can’t get fair value right now.
The bullpen is where the real interest might be. AJ Minter and Brooks Raley are reliable veterans who could help a playoff team in August and September. Luke Weaver and Devin Williams would command bigger packages. Williams especially is the kind of arm that could reshape a contender’s late-inning strategy. But the price to pry him out of New York would be steep.
What’s the actual plan here?
The Mets haven’t confirmed anything publicly beyond Mendoza’s honest admission that selling is the reality if the losing continues. But the math is the math. A 34-47 team that just got swept by the Cubs isn’t flipping a switch and competing for a wild card spot. The front office has decisions to make, and most of them involve trading veterans for prospects or salary relief.
For now, Mendoza’s job is to keep guys locked in. Don’t let the rumor mill turn the clubhouse into a disaster. Don’t let players start playing for their next team instead of the one on their chest. It’s a tough spot for a manager, but he’s not pretending otherwise.
“We’ve got to be honest here,” he said. He was.
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