With tenuous standings, the Mets and Yankees meet ahead of trade deadline
The Major League Baseball trade deadline is next Tuesday. The Mets and Yankees are in the market but perhaps for different reasons. The Mets are likely to be sellers and the Yankees buyers.
After meeting yesterday in the second game of their second Subway Series of this season, the Mets and Yankees find themselves in disparate situations. Both teams were at the lower end of their respective divisions. The Mets were in fourth place in the National League East and the Yankees last in the American League East.
However, the Mets were 47-53 after beating the Yankees 9-3 in the Bronx on Tuesday night, 17.5 games behind the NL East Atlanta Braves. Even more reflective of their dire playoff circumstances was the Mets being seven games out of third wildcard spot and looking up at five teams to supplant. Elevating above five teams with 61 games remaining is unlikely.
Conversely, although the Yankees were at the bottom of the AL East prior to facing the Mets last night, they were just 2.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the last American League wildcard spot. The Yankees have remained in the playoff hunt without having their best player since June 3. Reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge strained ligaments in his right big toe nearly eight weeks ago. At the time of his injury the Yankees were 10 games over .500 at 35-25. They are 30-19 with him in the lineup.
The outfielder faced live pitching in a simulated game on Sunday for the first time since sustaining the injury and the Yankees are hopeful his return is imminent. It’s why they will be looking to bolster their everyday lineup which has struggled since Judge’s departure. Reports of the Yankees acquiring the Los Angeles transcendent star Shohei Ohtani make for lively discussion but are ostensibly far fetched.
More realistic targets are the Mets’ outfielder Tommy Pham and reliever David Robertson, a former Yankee, and or Chicago Cubs’ outfielder Coy Bellinger. The San Diego Padres outfielder Juan Soto, an impending free-agent, could also be in play.
As for the Mets, along with Pham and Robertson, aging starters Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander could be appealing for playoff and World Series contenders. Today is Scherzer’s 39th birthday and Verlander is 40, but both future Hall of Famers are still quality pitchers that can help stabilize rotations.
The Mets open a four-game series versus the Washington Nationals today at Citi Field while the Yankees begin a three-game in Baltimore against the Orioles tomorrow.
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