A case for the Mets to buy at the trade deadline

The first half of the 2023 season has not gone according to plan for the New York Mets. From World Series expectations before the season to six games under .500 at midseason.

There is still some time for the Mets to make a run. There are several surpise teams ahead of the Mets in the NL standings, teams like Miami, Cincinnati, and Arizona. These teams have played above expectation and might be due to fall back to the pack in the second half.

87 wins is a conservative estimate of what it would take to win a wildcard spot. For that to happen the Mets need to go 45-27 the rest of the way. It is hard to believe they will go on that type of run with the team as currently constructed.

The Mets have too much invested into this season not to buy at the deadline

The Mets should buy at the deadline, within reason. I would not advocate trading any top prospects or any move that would hurt the team in the long term but Steve Cohen has shown he will spend money in order to make moves in place of trading prospects.

Cohen has so much invested into the 2023 Mets it doesn't make sense to sell. Especially considering the returns on the players the Mets could trade would most likely be low anyway. Tommy Pham or Mark Canha are not bringing back a top prospect.

Trading a Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander would involve Cohen eating a big part of their contract to pitch somewhere else. Even then, the return might be light considering how Scherzer and Verlander have underperformed.

The biggest need area for the Mets is pitching, both starting and bullpen helo. A mid-rotation starter who could give the Mets innings would be nice. A couple of solid bullpen arms would be a big improvement over the slop that has inhabited the bullpen this year.

Billy Eppler should look for guys signed beyond this year as the pitching will be a problem next year as well. Eppler will have to get creative to get deals done without trading good prospects. One approach could be to take on a bad contract in exchange for a helpful peice.

The Trevor Gott trade is one example of this as the Mets took on Chris Flexen's bad contract.

All hope is not lost for the Mets, but it is getting close. They have 15 games before the deadline to show they are a team deserving of more investment.

The first half of this season has been a big surprise in a negative way, let's hope the second half is a big surprise in a positive way.