Long Island Mets fans tell Newsday what they want club to do at trade deadline
Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta looks on during the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets’ fire sale is in full swing. Reliever A.J. Minter was traded to the Twins late Thursday night, and hours before Freddy Peralta was scheduled to start against the Marlins, he was scratched as trade talks intensified.
It’s not a situation the Mets — who expected to compete for a berth in the World Series and have the second-highest payroll in MLB — envisioned when building their roster, but it’s the result of owning the worst record in the NL East.
As Monday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline approaches, president of baseball operations David Stearns and Co. likely will sell off numerous key players with the idea of building a roster that will compete in 2027.
“We’re not doing anything this year, so trade some guys, get some younger guys in, just build from there,” said Michael Bertolini, 53, a fan from Lynbrook. “It’s going to be a rebuild, but I think that’s the process.”
Among the Mets most likely to be traded are Peralta, Clay Holmes, Brooks Raley, Luis Robert Jr. and Tyrone Taylor, all of whom can enter free agency after the season. Players such as Bo Bichette, Luke Weaver, Sean Manaea, Huascar Brazoban and Francisco Lindor have had their names floated in trade rumors.
“Get rid of every rental and everyone not under 23, 24-ish, I would say, and [Juan] Soto,” John Salamay said of what he’d do at the deadline.
Salamay, 34, of Smithtown, hopes the Mets make moves that will set them up for success next year. While trading someone like Weaver — who is on a team-friendly contract through 2027 — theoretically would hurt them next year, Salamay said the reliever market is weak and that the Mets should sell high if they can get a top-100 prospect in return.
Salamay said the Mets should keep Lindor around because they won’t get an adequate return.
Tom Burke, 29, of Smithtown, said he is indifferent about whether the Mets should trade Lindor — and other players under contract next year — but expressed doubt that they’d receive an adequate package if they did.
“Unless you’re getting like a formidable star like Bryce Harper or Soto or something like that, I think you keep them because if the management is true and you’re trying to compete next year . . . I think you keep them,” Burke said.
Even with the Mets’ struggles, Cecil Maloney, 86, of Lynbrook, believes they shouldn’t make trades.
“If they trade six people, they’re really damaging themselves,” he said.
On the flip side, trading expiring contracts and other pieces would open the door for the Mets to bolster their farm system — which FanGraphs ranks as the fifth worst in MLB — amid a lost season.
In doing so, it could help them build around a young nucleus that includes Soto, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton.
“They’ve got a great nucleus,” Bertolini said. “You look at their pitching, their fielders, they got it. They’re not too far away. So I think they should [make] trades.”
