Clay Holmes Fractured His Fibula. He Still Wants to Stay With the Mets.

The New York Mets are having a rough season. And Clay Holmes, one of their few bright spots on the mound, has been watching most of it from the trainer’s room after fracturing his right fibula in May. But the 33-year-old right-hander isn’t looking for a way out.

Holmes said Thursday he’s open to signing an extension with the Mets, even as the team stumbles toward the trade deadline with a losing record and chatter builds about which veterans might get dealt.

“Definitely open,” Holmes told Will Sammon and Tim Britton of The Athletic. “I know things are not the easiest right now and hard, but it’s not like I’m sitting here hoping to run away from it. If I can be part of the solution to make things better here, I would like that.”

That kind of talk is notable for a guy on an expiring $12 million deal. He’s been hurt, the Mets are under .500, and the front office hasn’t exactly signaled it’s building for next year. Still, Holmes sounds like a guy who wants to see this through.

Why he’s not running

Holmes said he came to Queens for a reason and that he feels a sense of unfinished business. He pointed to how exciting it would be to win in New York, especially after getting a taste of what that looks like.

“You almost have the sense of some type of unfinished business,” Holmes said. “You want to make things right and do things well here because when you do win here, it’s very exciting. I’ve seen that. It’s something that I hope to be a part of. I don’t know what that looks like. But that desire is still there.”

Before the injury, Holmes was putting together a really solid season. In nine starts for the Mets, he went 4-4 with a 2.39 ERA and a 174 ERA+. That’s borderline ace stuff. The fractured fibula came during an appearance against his former team, the Yankees, and he’s been on the shelf ever since.

Trade deadline questions loom

The Mets haven’t said much publicly about their deadline plans. But with the team struggling to string wins together, Holmes’ name keeps coming up as a potential trade chip. He’s a rental on an affordable deal, and a contender could use a starter with those numbers.

But Holmes isn’t thinking about that. Or at least he’s not saying he is. He’s talking about sticking around and being part of a turnaround. Whether the Mets feel the same way is another question.

The front office hasn’t tipped its hand. If they decide to sell, Holmes might be gone by August. But if they keep him and try to make a run next year, they’ve got a guy who clearly wants to be here.

For now, Holmes is just trying to get healthy and see what happens. The Mets have six weeks before the deadline to figure out which direction they’re headed.