5 Mets roster questions to answer before the August 1 trade deadline

2) NY Mets roster question: Is Brooks Raley expendable in a trade at any price?

The market for a player like Justin Verlander will be slim considering the amount of money involved. Brooks Raley, on the other hand, should have plenty of suitors. The lefty reliever has been brilliant out of the Mets bullpen this year. He has easily been their most valuable reliever next to David Robertson.

Raley has a team option for the 2024 campaign which should put him in line to return to a bullpen that needs an overhaul outside of a small number of pitchers. Just because he is an option for next year shouldn’t necessarily take him off the table for a trade.

The obvious con of trading Raley is the Mets will need to look to reacquire someone to take on his role next year. Billy Eppler has not been exceptional at building a bullpen. The Pope is also Catholic.

In favor of trading Raley is the fact that he could net the team one of the better returns. A serious contender with hopes of also winning in 2024 should be all over paying a little more to land Raley. Relief pitchers are completely unpredictable. Something about Eppler’s reign as the general manager should have us pondering if Raley will end up as another one of those one-year wonders.

The question: Is there a price the Mets can put on Brooks Raley?

The answer: There is and it’s going to need to be much higher than what they gave up to get him.