Price on obvious NY Mets trade target is rising, his availability might not be

The New York Mets starting rotation might not have an obvious need at the moment, but that might not be the case come July. David Peterson has flipped from having good production but questionable peripherals to the reverse, Freddy Peralta has yet to truly impress, and Kodai Senga's health will always be a question mark until he proves that he can be a durable workhorse.

These are just a few reasons why the Mets could be shopping for a new starter around the trade deadline. There are so many variables that you just never know what could happen. With that in mind, New York could end up once again eyeing longtime trade target Sandy Alcantara.

Dating back to the 2024-2025 offseason, Alcantara's been enveloped in trade rumors despite nothing ever getting particularly close. Even at last year's deadline, when he had a 6.36 ERA, and it looked as if the Marlins made a mistake by holding onto him, he was a hot name.

Since then, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner has gotten his mojo back. He posted a 3.33 ERA over 83.2 second-half innings, which once again reignited the trade smoke. While the Marlins have been pretty blunt in their unwillingness to deal him, their past history suggests that he's ripe for a deal.

There's a problem, though. The more appealing he makes himself to the Mets and other suitors, the less likely he is to be traded, creating a strange catch-22.

The more the Mets want Sandy Alcantara, the less likely the Marlins will be to trade him

If there was any question about Alcantara after his second-half turnaround, he's eliminating the doubts with his stellar start to the 2026 season. After a strong, seven-inning performance to open the year against the Colorado Rockies, the 30-year-old went out and tossed a complete-game shutout against the Chicago White Sox on April 1.

His most recent start came against the Cincinnati Reds, and saw him enter the ninth inning with another shutout on the line. After he got into a first-and-second jam, he was pulled, and reliever Anthony Bender coughed up the lead, and Miami ultimately lost the game after 10 innings. Alcantara was not pleased.

“I’m just a player,” Alcantara told reporters. “I understand there’s a decision, and you cannot control it. It just happened. It just happened. So I’ll be there with my teammates and my coaches, but I think next time, they have to make sure to ask me before taking me out of the game.”

If that doesn't scream ace mentality to you, than you need to have your head examined. And there-in lies the problem. The Marlins started the season 5-1, and while they've dropped four of their last five games, they might actually been in contention for a Wild Card spot this year.

Things get sticky here. Part of the reason Miami hasn't moved Alcantara yet is the value they'd receive back. Prior to last season, he had just missed the entire 2024 campaign while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Last July, he wasn't pitching well. This offseason, he'd only had a little less than half of a season to prove that he was back.

The Marlins weren't going to move him for anything less than a ransom, and if he continues to pitch like his vintage self, they'll find that is exactly what they can get. However, the better he pitches, the more games they'll win and the higher the likelihood will be that they'll be in a playoff race. For most teams, that would take him off the table.

This is the Marlins, though. You can never count them out when it comes to trading away major league talent. They won the World Series in 1997 and 2003 and had massive fire sales the very same offseason. They're weird. That's what the Mets will have to count on, but even if the Marlins are willing to make an anti-competitive move, the question will be whether or not David Stearns would be willing to pay the price.