The Mets are 15-19 with 26 games remaining in the shortened 2020 MLB season (1.5 games back of a playoff spot), but still reportedly had interest in making multiple improvements to their team with the trade deadline on Monday.
SNY's Andy Martino reported on Monday afternoon that one of the players the Mets were interested in was Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez, but that Boston's price was "very high," according to league sources.
As the deadline passed, the two sides did not strike a deal.
According to Martino, the Mets and Sox would have had to bridge a large gap in order to get a deal done.
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Vazquez is under team control through the 2022 season, set to earn $6.25 million in 2021 and $7 million in 2022 (which is a club option year).
It's fair to believe that trading for the 30-year-old Vazquez, whose career OPS in six big league seasons is .689, would have taken the Mets out on free agent catcher J.T. Realmuto (should Realmuto not re-sign with the Philadelphia Phillies before the offseason).
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Sox had been "doing background" on Mets minor leaguers.
In the last month, the Mets have added some of their top prospects to the 60-man player pool, though all of those prospects had already been eligible to be traded as players to be named later.
With a Mets sale to Steve Cohen reportedly in the final stages, there was another dynamic added to the unusual trade deadline that is part of this truncated season.