3 under the radar Mets trade candidates who could get moved today

New York Mets rumors today will be headlined by Justin Verlander. A few other obvious trade pieces, such as Tommy Pham and Carlos Carrasco, will make appearances as well.

We’re only 12 (less by the time you read this) hours away from the trade deadline being over with. Billy Eppler’s phone will be ringing constantly. The Mets are open for business and willing to get a little creative with their moves.

Much further down the depth chart than Verlander are these three under the radar trade chips the Mets could move on from before 6pm EST strikes. What makes them so appealing?

1) NY Mets rumors: Dominic Leone is a cheap MLB reliever teams should consider

Teams who miss out on adding bigger names to their bullpen can look at Dominic Leone as an innings eater to get them through some blowouts and occasionally string together some scoreless innings. Now 1-3 with a 4.40 ERA in 30.2 innings for the Mets, he’s a pending free agent who makes sense to trade away for anything. The market will be large yet not so powerful. He is what he is and that’s a very average pitcher on his best day.

Leone spent the first few weeks of the season in Triple-A for the Texas Rangers pitching to a 1.59 ERA in 8 appearances. Clearly a guy whose best days are behind him, the Mets took a chance and the results have been very “meh.”

In the final hours before the trade deadline, Leone is someone to pay attention to. He’ll come cheap. He’ll have upside. His 2.71 ERA from 2021-2022 with the San Francisco Giants should be convincing enough to swing a deal for this under the radar Mets trade piece.

2) NY Mets rumors: Tim Locastro is a weapon another team should want

Even cheaper to acquire than Dominic Leone is Tim Locastro. Remember him? Locastro had an awesome spring and won his way onto the Opening Day roster. An injury early on landed him on the IL. Locastro ended up in a rehab assignment until he conveniently was moved to the 60-day IL where he has been ever since.

The intention to sign Locastro was obvious for the Mets, but putting this out of options speedy outfielder on the Opening Day roster shoehorned them. Because they’ve been able to stash him on the IL for months now, Locastro is an under the radar trade piece other teams could look at as their Terrence Gore.

A pinch runner exclusive player is never the most appealing trade piece and yet we know the deal with Locastro. The MLB rule changes which have increased the number of stolen bases adds further to why we should expect the Mets to get some phone calls about Locastro.

One thing of note for Locastro is that he isn’t a pending free agent. However, because the Mets did add him to the MLB roster earlier this year, he faces being on the 26-man roster or being designated for assignment. It doesn’t make any sense for the Mets to keep him around as he’s essentially locked into a big league roster spot.

There’s no “haul” we’d expect back for Locastro. Any sort of return would be a victory because the only other outcome is the Mets lose him for nothing.