The Mets have stopped hedging. Per SNY’s Chelsea Janes and MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, New York has opened trade discussions with other clubs ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline and is carrying an untouchable list so short it barely qualifies as a list: Juan Soto, plus young pieces Nolan McLean, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Christian Scott. Everyone else, per those reports, is at least a conversation.
That includes Francisco Lindor, which is the detail that turns a sell-off into a story. Heyman reports the Mets appear open to dealing their shortstop, while immediately noting why it almost certainly won’t happen: Lindor’s down 2026, the money still owed, and a full no-trade clause. Heyman calls a trade “very unlikely,” and a source close to Lindor told him it’s “not happening.” Lindor has declined to say publicly whether he would waive the veto. He is signed through 2031 at a $32 million average annual value, so any acquiring team would be buying five more seasons on the wrong side of the aging curve.
Bo Bichette lands in the same bucket for different reasons. The infielder has slashed .293/.330/.470 with eight home runs over his past 51 games after a miserable start in Queens, but two $42 million player options remain on his deal — and he collects $5 million if he opts out instead. That structure is a deterrent, not a selling point.
The realistic movement is one tier down. Pending free-agent starters Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes are the obvious rentals, and the bullpen — headlined by Luke Weaver, who is signed through 2027 — is the piece of this roster contenders actually need. Catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder Brett Baty, both controllable through 2029, are described as possibilities too, which is the part that separates a retooling from a rental dump.
The Mets already set the tone by flipping David Peterson to the Cubs for first base prospect Cole Mathis last week. What Janes and Heyman are describing now is bigger than a single trade: a front office that has decided which season it’s playing for, with 17 days to act on it.
