BOSTON -- With eight-plus days until the Trade Deadline, Mets general manager Billy Eppler is fielding “at least a couple” of calls per day from rival GMs, he said, “if not more.” These are mostly what he describes as “positioning” calls: executives telling each other where they stand. The actual exchange of player names and trade concepts will come later.
For Eppler, the problem is that he still doesn’t know quite where the Mets stand. Each time they win a few games in a row, as they did last week, the idea of standing pat or even buying assets at the Deadline becomes more real. But on every such occasion, the Mets have followed up their success with something like what happened on Sunday.
Their 6-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park began with a Carlos Carrasco start that ranked among the least effective in franchise history. When it ended, the Mets took a third defeat in their last four games to add merit to the idea of a Deadline selloff.
“There’s not very many games left before the Deadline, but … I’m trying to avoid the shot clock for everybody to watch,” Eppler said. “We’ll watch what the opponents do and the other teams do and continue to evaluate our club.”
Anyone evaluating the Mets on Sunday would struggle to emerge with a positive impression. Carrasco allowed six consecutive hits in the third inning to a Boston team that went 10-for-15 against him in total. He also walked two batters and gave up five runs, and the damage would have been worse had the Sox not made multiple outs on the bases (with Mark Canha recording three outfield assists). Carrasco became the ninth pitcher in Mets history to allow at least 10 hits and record seven or fewer outs.
“I just went out there and threw strikes and they got me,” Carrasco said. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The opportunity is shrinking for anyone on the Mets to do something about their situation. Heading into a Subway Series showdown with the Yankees in the Bronx, the Mets hold a 46-53 record. They are effectively out of contention in the National League East and trail seven teams in the NL Wild Card race. They’re 7 1/2 games out of a spot there. The last time they saw .500 was seven weeks ago.
Those are all indicators that the Mets should and likely will sell at the Deadline. They’re just not willing to make a final decision quite yet, with two games against the Yankees and four versus the Nationals forthcoming.
“The next few to several games will show us a lot as far as our positioning is concerned, and the positioning of some of the other teams that we’re chasing or battling against,” Eppler said before Sunday’s loss. “We’ll just have to evaluate it as that time comes.”
In the meantime, the Mets are not blind to their reality. “I think everybody knows what’s going on,” manager Buck Showalter said, referencing the fact that the Mets are still wholly capable of playing themselves into either bucket -- buying or selling. When New York finally showed some life in the middle innings on Sunday, putting its first three batters of the sixth on base, the pendulum swung a little closer toward the former category. When the next three Mets went down in succession, it swung back in the other direction.
There is a third possibility of the Mets not doing much of anything, keeping things intact and hoping they rebound strongly enough to make a late playoff run. But each passing defeat makes that less likely as well.
“I trust Billy and everybody to do the right thing,” Showalter said.
The Mets possess two relatively strong trade chips in outfielder Tommy Pham and closer David Robertson, both of whom have drawn the eyes of scouts in recent weeks. The Phillies and Rangers are among those clubs who would be a fit for Pham. Any number of teams could use Robertson’s veteran savvy. Others on the roster could and likely will also draw interest, all but forcing a club with slimming playoff odds to listen.
For now, the Mets will continue to wait and watch, but that won’t be the case for much longer. Within days, they’re going to have to pick a lane.
As the losses pile up, many around the team are beginning to suspect which one it might be.