Mets' Brandon Nimmo repeats trade-deadline challenge for Steve Cohen

Earlier this week, New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo made it known he had "lobbied" owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns for additions" ahead of the July 30 MLB trade deadline.

Nimmo expanded on that wish during an on-the-field post-game interview following Thursday's 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals that secured a series sweep.

"In here, we believe we’re a really good team, and we want to be buyers at the end of this month, and we believe we’re not that far off from being serious contenders," Nimmo explained, according to Robert Sanchez of SNY. "We’ve been playing really good baseball, we want to continue to do that. We believe we’re a good team in this locker room."

The Mets acquired right-handed relief pitcher Phil Maton from the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, and Jim Bowden of The Athletic then reported on Thursday that Stearns and Cohen "are keeping an open mind and might end up doing some buying and selling at the trade deadline." Such a mindset likely wouldn't sit well with team leaders such as Nimmo and shortstop Francisco Lindor, considering the Mets began Friday in possession of a National League wild-card playoff spot.

Stearns is expected to pursue additional bullpen help, assuming the Mets don't endure a significant losing streak between now and the final Tuesday of July. Nimmo hopes New York can convince Stearns and Cohen to get aggressive beginning with Friday's series opener versus the Colorado Rockies (33-61) at Citi Field.

"I think the more that we can get cushion there, the more that we can stay in that, the more it incentivizes staying in this thing and being buyers at the end of the month," Nimmo added. "The work is not done, no doubt. We’ve put in a lot of work to get back to this point because we dug ourselves a bit of a hole, but like I said, we believe we’re a good team, we don’t believe this is just a fluke. We believe that we can continue playing good baseball and we just need to show up each and every day and try and go 1-0."

While the 47-45 Mets did well to win five of their last six games, back-to-back losses at the Nationals last week reminded them that New York can't coast into any contest. Still, the Amazins should expect to enter the All-Star break on Sunday night above .500 and near or at the top of the wild-card standings.