2 Mets trade deadline needs they must address, 1 they can ignore

Believe it or not, we’re about as close to the MLB trade deadline as we are to Opening Day. Set for August 1 this season, it’ll be a day of reckoning for the New York Mets. Which Tom Cruise movie will we be referencing the next day?

Will Billy Eppler make All the Right Moves? Or will he get into too much Risky Business and overpay for a rental? It doesn’t have to be Mission Impossible. He just needs to find A Few Good Men.

Before those Days of Thunder arrive and Eppler is caught with his Eyes Wide Shut (that’s the last, I swear!), it’s vital to prioritize certain trade deadline needs over some others. The Mets must be successful with filling two of those needs. Another can actually be ignored.

NY Mets trade deadline need to address: The bullpen

There isn’t anywhere the Mets need to add more than in the bullpen. It’s not so much because the bullpen is a complete mess as much as it is a place with the fewest internal solutions.

Despite the absence of Edwin Diaz, it’s not the closer role they should look to improve. Let David Robertson handle it but instead look for a player who can fill what was his originally intended role as a late-inning setup man.

The current crop of relievers are split pretty much into two factions. There are the ones we will normally see in a tight game in an attempt to win. Then there are those who’ve gotten a lot of innings in opportunities where they’re eating up frames. It’s amazing the Mets have been able to perform as well as they have with their starting pitching woes and a bullpen with as many questions as it does.

There is room for several new bullpen arms. A lefty and a righty should be the bare minimum. Make them both good ones, too.