Just two-and-a-half weeks separate us from the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline. With the second half of the season fully kicking off Friday night after this week's All-Star Game, transaction action is expected to pick up in the coming days. To go with it, there will be a healthy dose of rumors.
Below is the hottest buzz from the trade rumor mill on Friday, July 17.
Mets ready for major sell-off?
The Mets started off the second half of the 2026 Major League Baseball season with a 4-1 win over the Phillies on Thursday night, but that's far from enough to alter their plans leading up to the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Speaking of those plans, the disappointing Mets are not just in line to be sellers but perhaps deep sellers. Here's this from SNY's Chelsea Janes:
"A rival executive said the Mets informed their team that the sale is on, and that everyone but young stars Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Christian Scott, Nolan McLean and the obvious, Juan Soto, is available. That doesn't mean everyone will go. But it means the Mets will listen on just about everyone, which is in keeping with what people familiar with their thinking have signaled for weeks."
That those young players are off-limits and everyone else is at least theoretically not off-limits suggests that the Mets are thinking longer-term. That of course doesn't mean owner Steve Cohen and lead decision-maker David Stearns are prepared to concede 2027. Rather, it means a wide-ranging pivot may be in the offing that drastically alters the current core.
The most notable names absent from the off-limits list are veteran shortstop Francisco Lindor and marquee offseason addition Bo Bichette. While moving either of those big names would surely grab headlines, it won't be easily achieved. The 32-year-old Lindor is enduring what's on target to be the worst season of his 12-year big-league career, and he's still owed more than $170 million through 2023, and that's not counting the balance of his 2026 salary. The Mets could make him more moveable by including cash to pay down a chunk of that remaining commitment, but their appetite for doing so is uncertain.
As for Bichette, he's also had a disappointing 2026, and his contract will also be difficult to move. He's owed the remainder of a $42 million salary for this season, and he has a $42 million player option before the 2027 and 2028 seasons. That's a lot of annual salary, and those player options mean that Bichette, if he's worth those salaries or more, is likely to reenter the free agent market. If he's not worth those salaries, then he's going to exercise those options. That's a one-sided agreement, and it won't have much appeal on the market in light of Bichette's struggles.
A number of names, though, will be relatively easy to move, especially in a market that may be light on sellers. Starting pitcher Freddy Peralta is in his walk year, as is Clay Holmes (Holmes is on the IL, but even if he's not back by the deadline that won't rule out a deal). Reliever Luke Weaver would certainly have a strong market, and even Devin Williams may be a change-of-scenery candidate. Brooks Raley is another appealing reliever, as is veteran lefty A.J. Minter and right-hander Huascar Brazobán.
Would the Mets entertain a trade of 24-year-old catcher Francisco Alvarez? He's not on the above list of untouchables, so perhaps so. He'd no doubt have takers, even if teams are typically hesitant to take on a new primary catcher during the season.
The specifics are yet to be determined, of course, but by the sounds of things it's going to be an active deadline for Stearns and the last-place Mets.
