A clear NY Mets line to draw with Braves, Phillies, Yankees trade deadline deals

Should the New York Mets avoid trading with their biggest rivals? In whatever order you want to rank them, the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Yankees are the three teams we’d least like to see get any help from the Mets.

While you should always take the best offer possible, there is a line for David Stearns to draw if he wants to keep things from backfiring too badly.

The Mets shouldn’t be afraid to trade rentals to their biggest rivals, players under control are a different story

Practically everyone is movable by the trade deadline. Francisco Lindor was notably absent from the list of players who aren’t untouchable. However, that situation is too complicated for us to actually believe he’ll end up on the Braves, Phillies, or Yankees despite all three clubs having a reason to trade for him.

All three rivals are a match for more than Lindor with bullpen arms being a possibility for each club as well as a few starting pitchers. Luke Weaver may be the player with control beyond 2026 most likely to get moved with Huascar Brazoban as another possibility. There’s also Francisco Alvarez, Luis Torrens, and even less enticing players such as Brett Baty. The Yankees could definitely use a catcher. Baty trade rumors with the Miami Marlins, a team the Mets deal with regularly at the deadline (David Robertson in 2023, Brazoban in 2024), is another possibility although those rumblings seem dated. They’ve been trying to get him since before the 2023 season.

It’s one thing to help a rival win in a lost season. What happens when Weaver is going up against you in 2027 when you have a fresh start again?

Oddly, there’s a greater chance the Mets benefit from selling a rental. If Peralta was to hypothetically land with the Braves, the Mets gain control over prospects who could contribute for years. Peralta could be relegated to bullpen duty by the time Atlanta gets to the postseason.

Typically when the Mets have traded with any of these three it has been lesser players or rivals exchanging uniforms. Armando Benitez in 2003 was the last time the Mets and Yankees swapped at the deadline. The Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe pairing in 2015 was the most significant one with the Braves. In 2019, the Mets sent the Phillies Jason Vargas in a year where both clubs were trying to compete. Neither made the playoffs.

All of those examples had a player on an expiring deal getting shipped away. It’s precisely the same line they should draw this year.

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