Mets Trade Deadline: Ranking The 5 Most Likely Players To Be Traded | Straight Outta Flushing

This is Straight Outta Flushing, brought to you by your local Ford stores. Ford F-150 is the official truck of the New York Mets. What's good, everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Straight Outta Flushing. It's your boy, Dexter Henry, alongside my guy, the one and only Tyler Ward, a.k.a. Wardy. If you see Wardy, he is fresh off of Fanatics Fest, and he's got a fresh fit on. He's blue and orange everything. You see he's got the Knicks hat that he's rocking there, looking really good there. I like the hat, Wardy. It's a smooth transition for you, Dex. Whether you're talking Mets or Knicks, you've always got the orange or blue, right? So I'm happy to rep, and hey, I was basically wearing the same thing on Fanatics Fest, because even if I'm a Mets rep, it doesn't change the fact that it's Knicks summer. It's Knicks wave, and we've got to ride it while we can. Now's the time to do it. Yeah, you've got to do that. You know what else is coming? I wouldn't call it a summer, but it is the time period that we're in right now. It's officially trade season. The All-Star break is over. Baseball is back in form. We are approaching that August 3rd trade deadline. There is a lot to talk about with the Mets on this. So we're going to try to get through some stuff pretty quickly here for the fans here. A lot of stuff to talk about. One thing I wanted to talk to you about was this report that came out this week from The Athletic that Francisco Lindor unlikely to be traded, Wardy. Does that simply confirm the obvious, or does it tell us something bigger about how David Stearns is or might be approaching this trade deadline? What did you make of that report from Will Salmon out of The Athletic? I think it's accurate. You know, everything that I know about Will and you know about Will too, he's not one to try to steer us in a different direction. He's just saying what he knows. And everything about the Lindor rumors has always been with a heavy unlikelihood, you know, but because it's Francisco Lindor and not just any Joe Schmoe on the Mets roster, we have to have these discussions. Maybe a bit more than certain fans want to see or hear happen, but when you have a star shortstop that has been very underwhelming this season up until the day that we're talking funny enough, as he got on base all five times for the Mets and their 6-1 win over the Phillies. So Lindor woke up. That's great. I hope that continues for him this season. And I do not anticipate him to be traded at this year's deadline. So I agree with Will there. But I do think it's still you can look at it in both lenses and say both are true. Is the likelihood of the Mets trading Lindor strong right now? No, of course it isn't. But knowing that the Mets have his name out there and are listening and are fielding offers publicly in ways that they have in recent years is an obvious sign that depending on how this second half goes with Lindor, depending on how not only he but Soto and the other true pieces of this core group, Carson Menj, AJ Ewing, who Lindor said postgame earlier today, he's looking forward to playing with them for years to come. Is that Lindor throwing a nugget out there to say, hey, you know, I don't want to go anywhere? Possibly. What I know, though, is that for a Mets team that has failed the way that they have this season, not making playoffs feels like an absolute certainty right now. And because of that, everything's uncertain about these players and their future. I said that heading into the year, Dex, I feel the same way now. I never would ever, ever suggest that you should trade Francisco and or even fathom the idea unless you have the year the Mets are currently finding themselves having. So throwing it back to you, Dex, what was your initial impression of the Lindor rumblings? Will kind of shooting it down. And do you think that we could see something maybe drastically changed from now up until August 3rd? So before I get to that, I just want to hit on something you said, because the comment that Lindor had after the 6-1 win over the Phillies on Sunday, I thought was very interesting too. Wardy, I looked at that and said, huh, that is him trying to say, let it be known through the media. I'm not trying to go anywhere. I still want to be here. I want to be part of the solution for the future. Now, whether the Mets should do that or not, as far as the reporting that came out of the Athletic, yes, we're not saying that we don't think it's accurate because I absolutely do think it's accurate. But what I took from it was, this is notable that the reporting is that he is unlikely to be traded, but that's not saying that his name hasn't been out there, right? Or the Mets wouldn't explore options of trading him, not saying that it would happen this season. That was my major takeaway. And I think when you hear that, that tells you, and this is why I was asking you, I was wondering, okay, what does it tell you about how David Stearns might approach this deadline? Well, a lot of options are on the table, right? That's what it tells you here. They'll listen. If somebody really wants to come and get Francisco Lindor, they will listen for that. And here, I'm with you on this. Where the Mets are right now, that we are talking about today here in 2026, as they try to look to I-2027 and beyond, nothing should be off the table. Outside of guys that we mentioned, and I think it was a couple episodes ago, we talked about, right? Soto, McClain, Benj, Ewing, those guys should be. I would put Francisco Lindor on that list, but if you wanted to talk about it, considering where you're trying to go and the direction of the club and who you think should be the faces of the club on the next good Mets team, then I am absolutely fine with that. So for me, this was something where I said, hmm, this is the organization, maybe, just maybe, Wardy, maybe, I wanna be very clear, I'm saying maybe here, might be trying to be proactive. Just could be trying to be proactive. That's not gonna have ourselves in our decks. Well, listen, listen, they're usually reacting, right? I'm not saying they're gonna be exactly proactive and do it, but they're actually thinking about some other options and really thinking about the fact that this is beyond. I mean it in that sense, just to be clear. It doesn't mean I think they're actively gonna trade Francisco Lindor, but I think you really have to think about this. Now, here's the thing, a lot of general managers, presidents of baseball operations, a lot of guys are thinking about what their job is, trying to keep their job. And we have acknowledged here on this show, Davis Stearns is on the hot seat. The seat is hot, okay? This has been a disappointing season. So I think that he's thinking not about all the way down the road, but how can he keep the most talent around and on this team to also be competitive so he can have his job in 27, 2027, excuse me, and beyond. And so one way to maybe do that and maximize it could be to look at what the market is for Francisco Lindor. You gotta look at the market, man. I've seen no problem with it. Do I think he gets traded? No. Do I think it's notable that you should think about the fact that they are looking at what the market could be with him? I think that's notable. I think that should be the major takeaway from this. Oh no, I agree. And I think as we inch closer to the traded line, we're gonna continue to hear reporting that might be contradicting in a 12 to 24 hour span of previous reporting too. We're gonna kind of see a lot of snip snap back and forth, if you will, going on as to kind of, okay, what should we buy into versus what we should? And not that people aren't stating things that are factually correct because they're getting sources from different types of info around the clubhouse, around, you know, rival execs, what have you. But nonetheless, from now up until the deadline, expect a lot more chatter on not only Lindor, but the laundry list of options that the Mets have to choose from when it comes to parting ways with guys. What I will say to that is, Wardy, there's something I always talk about and I call trade season. Trade season is also known as a lying season. And I'm not saying that everybody is lying, but what I'm saying is a lot of information is pushed out there to increase the value of players, sometimes decrease the value of players. There's sometimes some misinformation. You gotta think about why is this information out here? Who's putting this information out here? Why is this player saying this? This is why I brought up Francesco Lindor's comments after the 6-1 victory over the Phillies on Sunday. Why are these comments being made? Keep your eye on what's being said, the timing of it coming out. Wardy, you're 100% right. We're gonna see a lot more of this. Some is gonna be true. Some is gonna have some truth. The truth always lies somewhere. And some of it is gonna be completely utter BS to throw other teams and other people off track. It's lying season, man. This is what happens. It's a leverage game. You know, we notice it to a degree at the traded line, but especially in the off-season. I'm not gonna say any names, but there's definitely a certain agent out there. You know that. Very charismatic. I wonder who that could be. That likes to lean people in a certain direction when maybe that's not where they should be leaning. We see this kind of, to a certain degree, manipulation through the media. It works at times, too, because again, there's a lot of people that are chomping at the bits who get this information out there that regardless as to what's gonna come of it or not, it's gonna cause chatter, especially when it's hot stove season or in the case of traded line. It's our version of a hot stove during the season. You know, it gets spicy. So staying on this spicy topic now, Dex, we gotta go on from talking about Francisco and Doherty getting into who are the guys that we see as most likely to be dealt. So starting with you, Dex, let's hop right into this. We got five individual players from both sides here. We're probably gonna have some overlap, I'm sure. Let's start with your five. Let's get the quick rundown. Who do you think is the most likely to be traded? So I'm pulling out my five here that I had. Now, do you want me to go in order, top of the list, one to five, or do you wanna, or do you not care? Just give me- Go five to one. Let me go five to one. Okay. I'm going at five, Huasca Brazoban, okay? Okay. I have him at five. And you're gonna notice there's a commonality with everybody in terms of what all these players do. Huasca Brazoban at five, AJ Minter at four, Brooks Raley, three, Freddy Peralta, two, and I'm putting Luke Weaver at one. So all arms, all pitchers. I could have flip-flopped with Weaver and Peralta, but I just think the reliever market is going to be very interesting. I think teams can get a little bit more desperate here. And I think David Stearns might be able to use that with Weaver. So I'm going Weaver likely at one. I know some Mets fans are gonna tell me I don't wanna trade Weaver. You and I have talked about this, Wardy. I think you... We talked about this last week, the week before. If you can get something good for him, you gotta do it, man. Because I think you said this to me. His value is never gonna be better than what it is right now. Correct. So you've got to move it. And I just think a lot of teams around baseball, a lot of contenders, right? They're gonna be looking... We'll get to this a little bit later. They're gonna be looking for good arms that they can trust who've played and pitched in big postseason games, big time September, October baseball. They're gonna look for that. Luke Weaver fits the bill on that. So if you can get a high-level prospect, maybe another low-level prospect for him or more, if you can get teams in a bidding war, you gotta do it. I think just he's the best trade ship and also the most likely that you can start bidding more over. So I have him as number one as my most likely Mets player to be traded. So we have the same players for the most part in our mix. Oh, okay. The only thing that is the clear difference is that this might come as a surprise to you. I think still, undoubtedly, the most likely to be traded is Peralta. He has been the one that has consistently been a part of this mix longer than anyone else. Before we even started to talk about, all right, should we start nitpicking and prodding the bullpen? Should we toss the Jardians, the Vientoses, the Beatys, the Mauricios of the world? No, no. When it comes to, above all, Peralta has been that one kind of certainty where I'll be shocked if he's a Met after the trade deadline for more reasons than one. It's not even the fact that he's been inconsistent here. There's just so much obvious reasons as to why you should part ways with him, from the contract stats, to him even having the openness and the willingness to return here if we really want him. I don't know if it's in the best interest of the New York Mets if they really want him as we get in 2027 right now either, because he hasn't shown that consistency enough. You know what I mean? So I think there's enough there to say, Freddie, unfortunately, this did not work out the way that we all wanted. Not like Brandon Sprute and Jet Williams have been lighting the world on fire for the Brewers, but there's still time for that. How ironic. The Brewers actually might be in the market for a Freddie Peralta reunion at this year's deadline. That is crazy, but true. Crazy. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that's crazy. We're going to talk about that in content with you this week, I'm sure, but because of Brandon Woodruff going down with a shoulder injury, they have a whole wrench thrown into their plans down the stretch here. So I'll take Brandon Sprute and Jet Williams. I don't know about you. You're like, come on back. Like nothing ever changed, but I'm going to put Freddie at one. Two, I'm actually going to be going here with AJ Minter. Really? Okay. I'm putting Luke Raley. And I'm not Luke Raley. I'm putting Luke Weaver. The reason why I have Weaver at three, and then of course, you're going to have Raley at four, and then at five, you could probably put anywhere from Brazoban to if you wanted to throw one of those infielders, I just said, because the Mets are absolutely trading well then. Will they trade more than one? Who knows? I think David Sturges loves to collect guys far longer than they should stay on the team, obviously. So we'll see. But what a shock. What a shock of a statement from you, Bordy. What a shock. I know. Shocking. Crazy. Luke Weaver, though, the reason why I have him at three and not one is because I agree. I think he potentially has the best return coming from the New York Mets, depending on how they play this and how desperate teams are. However, Luke's ability to pitch in New York and someone who loves it here is why I think if there is a role where the Mets comfortably trade AJ Minter, Brooks Raley, and Hwoska Brazoban away and get comfortable returns that they're satisfied with and trade Peralta, does David Sturgeon say to himself, why don't I hold on to the one guy that actually seems like he knows what he's doing? You know, like I'm not saying that is what is going to happen. I'm just saying if the Mets don't get a return that they feel is worthy enough for Luke, there should be with the way that this market is shaping up. But if that does not happen, out of all those players, Luke feels like the one guy that David would be like, you know what? Okay, Luke, you know, we have you for next season as is. We have you another year of control. Let's run it back. Do you? I love that you brought up that point, I'm curious. Do you think it matters to that happening if they're able to trade the other guys first? Like, let's say they're able to move a mentor. They're able to move a Brooks Railey or Brazoban first, and they're saying, okay, we got a decent return. We still know what Weaver might be able to get us. We both agree, possibly the best return out of anybody on this list. But if they're able to trade those guys first, does that maybe, and they get what they think is pretty good or decent returns for that. Do you think that makes them say, ah, you know what? Maybe we can hold on to Weaver for a little bit. We don't have to move him. Or if you're a Stearns, would you be proactive and maybe say, ah, we got to try to get the most that we can here. How would you play that if you were David Stearns? I'm curious. If I'm playing that, if I'm David Stearns, I'm still trying to maximize value. So it's hard to think right now on the time of stock in July 19th that Weaver won't be able to net you a return similar to like what Tyler Rodgers, you know, got between the Mets and the Giants last year. It's a prime example. The Mets gave up a lot of quality, not so much quality, but quantity of guys that could have longer leash there between Jose Budo, having loves of success. Drew Gilbert's been a player for them all season long. He's had ups and downs, obviously. And the Mets also gave up a Blake Tidwell, who, yes, will probably profile best as a reliever. But that's a guy who has a lot of raw potential, a lot of velocity in the tank with his arm. You know, the Mets gave up some assets that you look at a Tyler Rodgers that you just had for a couple months and then he walks because he signs a big contract in Toronto. That's probably regret, just in the sense of like, we gave up a good amount there. For little to nothing in true return at the end. So that's a comp I look at. And if the Mets can get something of similar status or fashion, you do that, you get something greater. Awesome. Now, if teams are only offering, say, a middle level prospect for Luke Weaver, like let's, worst scenario, Luke Weaver just forgets how to pitch. He gets the yips from now until August, right? And he goes from having 25 squirrel settings to giving up runs in like three of his last five hours, right? Let's just say it's not looking as good for him. Teams are like, all right, we're not going to bite as much. If you're Stearns, do you say to yourself, do I still just try to get whatever I can get for him? Or do you say, Hey, he has value to this team. He enjoys this market. Let's run it back. I can see both sides. I don't know which one's going to be prioritized over the other per se, right? Trust me. I wish, I wish I knew the way that David Stearns thought every time I feel like I do for the wrong reasons. So we'll just have to wait and see how from now up until August is going to go. So that's, that's another good point too, right? Because how he pitches over the next couple of weeks could absolutely impact the market. He feels, I could be wrong on this. He feels like the kind of guy with the way the market is right now, that could come down to, we're talking, still talking about him on August 3rd, when we do our live trade deadline show. We're still talking about the fact that, okay, we'll, you know, it could be coming up to the deadline. We're like, will they move Luke Weaver or not? But that really depends on how desperate other teams are, what the market is for him. Will there be a bidding war for him? It's interesting. Don't know how David Stearns thinks, but speaking of how David Stearns may or may not think, this kind of ties into what we're just talking about. Should David Stearns at this trade deadline be trying to get the biggest return or should he also be trying to keep the club competitive for 2027? Like, how do you think he should handle that? Because would you rather him, you talked about you like to see a maximized prospect value right here, or do you want to say, okay, we still need to keep, we keep around a Luke Weaver, we keep around some other veterans that can help us bounce back quickly next season. What do you think the priority should be, Mr. Proactive Wardy? What do you think it should be? You know, because I always wonder about this. Can you have really have two timelines? I don't think you can in any sport. You can't say I'm trying to develop the future while trying to win now. The problem is the Mets do have the pressure of winning now, right? They failed at it this year, but I don't know. What do you think? Is it prioritize the biggest return here at the trade deadline or keep the club competitive for 2027? It's got to be prioritizing the biggest return because you can do that and still be competitive for next season. You know, look at who the Mets are selling. It's not like they're all Juan Soto, you're gone. No McLean, you're out of here. Right. It's not a true fire sale. right, right. Yeah. Like there's a difference between a fire sale of guys that are rentals on short-term contracts that, you know, there was a strong, if not great likelihood, we're not going to be here next season, as is right. All the Mets are doing is trying to get, you know, a heads up on this and be ahead of the curve, especially as one of the lone best looking sellers of this deadline, which so many teams are willing to buy right now, just a couple of weeks out that it would be foolish for them to not take advantage of that market. Listen, David Stearns is foolishly not taking advantage of a lot of markets for the Mets over the past couple of years. Some he has. It's worked a lot. It hasn't worked. Now's an opportunity for him to kind of not only change the narrative about himself as he's being viewed as one of the worst presidents in Mets history at the moment, by going out, be proactive, maximize these returns, because in a scenario that even if they traded like 10, 10 players decks, yes, that's a lot of turmoil. And yes, I'm not saying it's healthy for a clubhouse, but enlighten me what's so healthy about this clubhouse. Please, please, please let's, let's have a launch spiel as to how the Mets, all their clubhouse culture is so electric. And that's what's carrying the weight, right? You know, each and every right. They still have, they still have disarray there. There's a lot of uncertainty because of Andy Green being an interim manager. They need to get their solidified voice in who will be their voice for at least the next number of years on paper. They have a lot, but they still need to figure out. So while they're in there, this continued transition phase, if you will, throughout the season, maximize those returns, trade, rarely trade, no mentor trade. We were more than likely trade bras, man, trade, Yon trade, Pantos trade, baby trade, literally Peralta and homes. If you get like such a crazy return that you would have to be like the, the maddest man imaginable to say that. Otherwise you hold on to clay because I think clay should stay here. Um, that's a lot of guys. Think about that. Think about, think about the amount of prospects decks that stirs has traded just from last year's deadline, right? He traded like nine, at least nine prospects away, which to be clear, we both supported. We were both fine with that, right? Yeah. I'm not, I'm not sitting here and saying that I hated those moves at the time, but you reflect, you look back at the moves you made and you realize, were those needle movers or not? And more often than not, they have not been for the Mets, unfortunately. So that's the risk when you're a buyer at the deadline. So it's time that the Mets actually take it a bit down on the whole risk outweighs the reward. You have something uncertainty right in front of you. You have a whole laundry list of guys that can shop away, go ahead and do it while you actually have the right time to do it. So I'm with you. What I don't want to hear from people is you kind of alluded to this. Don't give me anything about clubhouse chemistry in August and September when this team is not going anywhere. Like I don't, I don't want to hear that. The next time I want to hear chemistry is an off season. What players are trying to bring in or next year at spring training. I don't want to hear anything about chemistry right now. Now I get it. The team you trade off all those guys are going to say Wardian decks. It's going to look like a triple a team at city fields in August, September. Yeah, it is. And here's the thing. That's how it worked in 2023. That's what happens when you sell. You can't have it all. That's not, that's not how this works. Right. And so it's, do you want to, I'm going to bring up the word that we constantly keep saying on the show. And you and I both wanted to see. And to be fair, Steve Cohen has said this. Do you want sustainable success or not? This path that the Mets have been on right now, as we look at it, has not shown anything to work for sustainable success. Now you might say to me, Hey, Dex, Hey, Wardian, how do I know that selling it to deadline is going to lead to sustainable success? I don't know, but you know what the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting. We referenced this way too often decks. That's the worst part. I feel like every other week we're talking about the levels of sanity versus insanity and being a Mets fan. It gets you cooped up in the insane asylum. I understand. I'm not surprised. We're just, we're just trying to stay. We're just trying to stay sane, man. If that's your argument, not you, Wardian, but if that's somebody else's argument, I think that's a weak one. And this is not the time to worry about this. I do think you got to maximize and get the best return that you can. I do think you have to replenish the farm system. I think Wardian makes a great point again, supported the Mets for going for it at the deadline last year when we thought they had a really good team and should go all in. And they did. Now they didn't hit on enough needle movers, but now you got to try to replenish that. So when you have the next good Mets team, hopefully in 2027, maybe beyond who knows you do have assets to then go and fill holes. When you do need to go and do that right now, we're talking the Mets need to get good again. Before we start talking about chemistry and a clubhouse, just, just getting good again. We just need to see that. That's it. Right again. I, I understand easier said than done, you know, when it comes to getting good again. Yeah. I'm not saying that's easy. Like a lot of things should be. It seems like things should be easier and smoother than what they have been because of just how traumatic they managed to fail the way that they do. It's, it's, it's genuinely impressive. Even with all the stigmas that surround this team, I'm still a lot of times perplexed. I take it. I take a second to like, really like lean back in my chair and just think of like how we got here. And I'm like, it's only the Mets. Like it's, it's so cliche to say, but with every year that just rings more and more true, unfortunately. So hopefully the turning of the tide is here at some point after we sell off the deadline, but onto the next text. What do we got my friend? Okay. Well, here's the thing. You mentioned how there could be a bunch of guys. I get traded. I think he said like nine, 10 guys, which is not crazy. Easy, like easy to like comfortably. Yeah. That's, this is like not out of the realm of possibility here, which player would you refuse to trade? Even if the market loves it, right? So which players not necessarily, I'm not saying this player is untouchable, but you would personally just, you want them around the team. Cause you're like, Hey, I like the fit. Maybe the future projection, maybe the age, et cetera, whatever it may be. Who's that player for you? I have one. I'm curious to hear who yours would be. And we're not talking about like our, our untouchables. If you will, we're talking guys are, those guys are out. So we're taking out Soto. We are taking out AJ Ewing and Nolan McClain, taking them out. And I'll put Lindor. Okay. I'll put Lindor in that category. Let's throw Lindor in that category, just because he's going to be an easy pick. Otherwise. So Francisco Alvarez. Oh, so we have the same pick. Has to be Alvarez. He's 24. Yeah. He's hitting nukes. He's not, he's not playing terrible. The defense I'm still not happy with, but like, there's just, there's too much there, where I feel like even if the Mets maximize the return for him now, a return for him a year or two, two years from now could be two times. If he just continues to click and put it all together. The, the uncertainty that outweighs, I think the risk with someone like Alvarez, or if things go absolutely terrible for him, I think there's a lot of still optimism with him and his future, given his age, like the amount of catchers are at his age, doing what he's doing or something or not, you know, he's literally been top five to top 10 in baseball and every offensive metric has a catcher since arriving in the league for the most part. Yes. I agree. Defense needs work, but it's one of those things where as time continues going up, he can stay healthy. God blowing. He'll get there. We've seen it. He was 21, 22, looking like one of the better defensive catchers in baseball. I know it's in there somewhere. Alvarez, he just, he just needs to continue to find it. Yeah. And I'm believing that he's now look, we can both be wrong. We can both be dead wrong on this and look like fool color me. Shocked. Sounds like Dave ends on why it's actually had something wrong about the New York Mets. You're kidding me, but listen, when you look at his age and what, and what he's even to be able to accomplish, like you said, you know, being top five to 10 in a lot of offensive categories as a catcher in baseball, I'm willing to still bet that he's not, he's not, I don't think he's peaked. I still think he gives a ways to go. I think the thing with him is Kenny, stay healthy. And Kenny improved defensively. We've seen him be a good defensive catcher, be better than what he is right now. And I think he can get back to that. I'm with you too. I'm willing to take that bet more than some other guys. Now I was, I was going to, I thought about trolling you for a second, Morty, and maybe saying Mark, if you're about to say something, and I was going to say Mark, I was going to say, Oh, I was going to even say your boy. No, I wasn't going to do that. I said today is the first episode. I haven't even called anybody. Your boy. I was going to leave that alone. I was just going to be kind of nice if you're, if you're, if you're going to say something like that one more time, I'm going to have to bolt to the mound. Like I'm Wilson Contreras. Okay. Like I'm not having this anymore. Listen, listen, there are plenty of people around the New York post family that I work with that. I call other people, their boy, that they don't want to be called their boy. So people, okay, you're not alone. This is not, it's not me picking on a word, but I agree with you on this. We don't have to belabor this too long. If anybody's out there saying Mark Vientos, who I was going to jokingly say, then that would be absolutely ridiculous. But I do think Alvarez is a, a fair name. Cause I'm sure there was some in the Mets fan base. And even media would say, Hey, trade him. Now you can still get something good for him. I just think he's a guy that you hold on to just cause of age. I still think he fits here. So I think he has a respect of the pitching staff. I think that matters too. So for me, I'm, I'm still staying. I'm still sticking with, I'm still sticking with Francisco Alvarez here. I'm doing that. No, I'm, I'm happy to hear that. I think I'll be until we kind of see enough writing on the wall that he's not going to be our guy anymore. Yeah. I don't think that's something that I feel like if the Mets cut Alvarez, you know how I feel with Alvarez. I feel like if the Mets went down the route of kind of giving up on Alvarez, I know what you're going to say. Yeah. You think, you think Travis Starnow was bad. Ah, you think that was bad with the Atlanta Braves. Imagine if Alvarez found himself back in the end, at least in a couple of years on the Braves or on the Phillies. And he's just, cause he has a very charismatic personality too. You don't think he would hold a grudge. You don't think he would be the type for every single time he played the Mets. He would go out there and be like a man possessed. Like he would be the one where I'm like, don't even pitch to him. Like, don't even bother. This would be the most Mets thing ever. If that happened, it just feels right on brand. All right. Let's close on this. Cause I think a lot of times we talk about trade stuff from the perspective of the team that we cover. Right. In the Mets. But here's the thing. If you're another GM, which Mets player are you calling about first? Wardy? Like who's the player you're calling about first? Right? Because we are in seller mode. So we're thinking like the seller that the Mets are here. But if you are a buyer, so if you're the Dodgers, the Phillies, the Cubs, the Yankees, we even mentioned the Brewers. Who are you targeting first off of this Mets roster? Just like, Hey, I got to get this guy on my team. Who's that guy for you? Do you think teams are going to be calling about first? Oh, who do I think is going to get called about most? Yeah. Or calling first. This other team picks up the phone. They're like, Hey, we're interested in X guy. That's the first name they're asking about. That's reasonable. Also, not on the untouchable list. Just want to be clear. A guy who's not on the untouchable list that the other team's calling and saying, Hey, we need to talk about this guy first. This is the first guy we're going to talk about and try to at least put together the framework of a deal. Who's that guy for you? I'm torn between either it being Freddie or someone like Brooks Raley. It's obviously going to be guys in the pitching department, but really, I'm kind of stuck on because we did hear rumblings. Shout out to my good friend, Pat Ragazzo, who does a very good job with all of his MLB and Mets related work. And Pat just over not long ago, when talking about how the Mets were actually pushing hard for the, I believe the 34th or 35th pick and the draft by the Pirates, their compensation pick, the Mets were pushing hard for that. And in their supposed deal for him, Brooks Raley's name was involved. So I'm just curious. If you have a team like the Pirates that are really pushing for relief help, a lot of teams are looking for a guy like Brooks Raley, as they are with AJ Minter, Luke Weaver, et cetera. So I think it's one of those relievers because the Mets just have a smorgasbord of options. It's not like that. They just have one. And it's like, oh, we're going to have this insane bidding war where everyone needs the top reliever in the market. No, the Mets have at least four guys. Realistically, that can be impactful for contending teams that teams are chomping at the bit for. So I would probably lean Raley, just someone in the reliever front. What about you? Yeah. I know some people will think like, well, hey, Dex and Ward, you just talked about Luke Weaver, and we think he could net possibly the biggest return here at the trade deadline. But the way I think about it is when a buyer is calling, they're looking to say, hey, how can we upgrade, but maybe get someone that might not cost us as much as a Luke Weaver? So I'm thinking the first call, I like that you said Brooks Raley. I was going to go AJ Minter here because you've got some upside there with his arm as well, too. He probably won't cost as much. I think teams that are looking to improve their bullpen and saying, hey, can I get one guy that's a low cost arm? If they're a guy could then maybe get, you have to give up a high level prospect for, they want to try to stack these arms in their bullpen, sort of like what the Mets tried to do last year, right? You get a couple of guys at a low cost, maybe you go get a guy that's high cost, but they're going to try to start. I don't want to call it bargain basement shopping, but you know what I mean. They're going to try to do that first and go AJ Minter or Brooks Raley, good arms. They're not going to cost you as much as Luke Weaver. A lot of that also has to do with the contract and the control. So I think those are the guys you're going to, I'm with you. I like you said Raley. I'm going to go Minter. I think that's a guy teams are definitely calling about first. Now, I think if, as you have these conversations on the phone, Dave turns on the phone, they're also going to say, hey, what's the price for Luke Weaver? Well, you know, if you're looking for a starter, what's the price for a Freddie Peralta? They're going to kick the tires around on that and ask about that. But I think they're going to ask for some of, Kowalski Brazavon, you could throw him in that group too. I think he's, those names are going to come up first because I think as all teams know, the Mets are going to be looking to deal those guys and they want to replenish their farm system and you get them for cheap, relatively cheap is what I would say. Oh, I mean, as is the case with everything, when talking about this team, but how frustrating is it to hear that you talk about the Mets last year, trying to build their bullpen a certain way. Now they actually have it built this year. And it just like, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. The fact that their worst reliever in their bullpen is Perez. Like, and he's kind of like, clearly their worst reliever, like Devin Williams has been inconsistent, but like the bullpen's been nailed, man. It really, it really does frustrate me. We're going on multiple months of them kind of being like exactly what we need them to be. Not perfect, but definitely one of the better bullpens in baseball. And they're going to have nothing to show for it. The one thing that was built beautifully, Stearns, how fitting, indirect hand with how we tore down this team, this fast stop. So he's going to tear it down again. It's like the one good thing we have. Yeah, let's get it out of here. One time the Mets had to get a bullpen with guys that the fan base could trust. As Wardy said, it didn't matter one bit at all. All right, we'll see. We, listen, it's trade season. It's lying season, whatever you want to call it. We have a lot to talk about with trades. And as Wardy mentioned earlier, there's going to be a lot more information and misinformation folks that's going to be coming out. We're going to try to keep you on top of everything here at Straight Outta Flushing. Wardy, any final thoughts as we get deeper into trade season? More than anything, I'm just waiting for the dominoes to start to fall. I'm waiting for that crack to happen and the floodgates are open because once they do get open, it'll be busy. And I think a lot of it just is not really going to happen until basically like the day of the deadline or the 24, 40 hour span in the buildup, which is going to be exciting for us as we have a full long day. I'm going to be trading line coverage here on the post to share with each and every one of you. So I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. Wardy and I will be joined by Ryan Sampson for Pinstripe Post here at the post. We'll be doing a live trade deadline show. That's going to be a lot, a lot of fun. We'll be all together in studio doing that. That's going to be a fun one. That's going to do it for this edition of Straight Outta Flushing. That is a great Tyler Ward, AKA Wardy. And see, I went through this whole episode and I didn't even say to anybody was this boy. That is a success in itself. I know Wardy is happy about that. I'm Dexter Henry. Dexter, my boy. Wait, who's your boy? You're my boy. You know what? That's good. I don't have to feel, see, I feel good about that. I appreciate it. You're my boy too. That's good. We got no problem with that. There we go. Boys, Dexter and Wardy. You can't go wrong with that. There. We're going to catch the both, all of you. The both of us will catch all of you next time on another edition of Straight Outta Flushing.