MLB executives predict if Mets will embrace fire sale before trade deadline

Last week, a report emerged claiming that the New York Mets could make ace pitcher Freddy Peralta available to the Chicago Cubs or other advertised contenders if the Mets aren't considered to be back in the playoff race by June 1. 

The last-place Mets entered Thursday afternoon's home game versus the Detroit Tigers (19-24) at 17-25 and in the middle of quite the worrisome injury crisis. However, it sounds like MLB executives believe Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns and big-spending team owner Steve Cohen aren't quite ready to punt on the 2026 season quite yet. 

MLB executives think the Mets will wait this long to sell?

"It’s way too early to tell whether the Mets should plan to sell," one unnamed National League executive recently told Mark Feinsand of the MLB website. "Everyone needs to remember they were 11 games under .500 in early June 2024 and ended up in the NLCS. It would be surprising to see them engage on any sell-side deals until late July, even if they do decide to go that direction." 

That executive was referencing how the Mets fell to 22-33 on May 29, 2024, before star shortstop Francisco Lindor called a players-only meeting that featured some members of the club "holding each other accountable." More recently, Lindor hasn't played since he suffered a left calf strain on April 22 of this year. On Thursday, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed that there's no known timetable for when Lindor could return. 

It was previously hinted that Lindor may not be back in the big league lineup until after the All-Star break. Nevertheless, Feinsand noted that "multiple executives believe the Mets will wait until July to make a decision on whether to buy, sell or stand pat."

Steve Cohen's words still haunt him years later

"I can’t imagine they sell," an American League executive added about the Mets. "How do they save face doing that? They have to win. Five years and a World Series championship; Steve Cohen said it himself."

Shortly after Cohen assumed ownership of the Mets in the fall of 2020, he made it known that he would consider it "slightly disappointing" if the club didn't win a World Series "in the next three to five years." For what it is worth, he has since suggested that he'd "like to have that one back."