Astros may have passively helped the Mets' chances of adding 2 trade targets

The Houston Astros helped the New York Mets out. No, seriously. They aren’t all bad.

Baseball’s biggest villains landed Christian Vazquez from the Boston Red Sox and Trey Mancini from the Baltimore Orioles. Two candidates for the Mets land in Houston. This leaves catcher Willson Contreras with one less destination. The same goes for Josh Bell, a player more teams could probably squeeze onto their roster but might not have great of a need for.

With the Mets still waiting to make a major move of their own, could the pair of trades by Houston now lower the cost for Contreras and Bell?

Mets got a little help from their Astros friends with 2 trades

Teams are still posturing hard as we are now less than 24 hours until the trade deadline. The Mets haven’t given in. No team they have been trying to do business with seems to have called them up again and bitten the bullet either.

What makes it even tougher for the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals to do business for the Mets is how they do have other options out there. In fact, there’s no rule against the Mets pitting the two clubs against each other.

Also working in the Mets’ favor, Bell and Contreras are pending free agents. Holding onto them would be a major mistake. Their respective clubs would be left with nothing but an extra draft pick. If they draft their own front office to draft better than what the Mets have to offer, it’s not the worst situation to be in.

As frustrating as it may be for some fans to watch as other teams make bigger moves, the Mets did already have a pretty loaded roster and haven’t lost all options out there. They were never seriously in the market for a starting pitcher—the most competitive part of this year’s trade block. Instead, the Mets began the trade deadline season by adding Daniel Vogelbach and Tyler Naquin to increase their depth and make sure they didn’t leave empty-handed.

If the Mets don’t end up getting a DH, we have to expect Mark Vientos to get promoted at some point just to see what he can do in a part-time role. The catcher spot is less urgent. James McCann is returning from the IL and can at least call a good game alongside Tomas Nido.

The Mets should still be looking to add at least one relief pitcher. Preferably, someone to take Joely Rodriguez’s spot in the bullpen. Andrew Chafin is still out there, for now. Maybe Houston has another deal in them to give the Mets an edge in negotiations.