With the MLB trade deadline one week away and just over a month left in a still-tenuous regular season that was delayed and seriously condensed due to the coronavirus pandemic, there isn't expected to be a ton of action coming.
Due to the pandemic, the schedule is unbalanced, key players have opted out, and the playoffs are expanded -- making them an even bigger crapshoot than usual (and they may be moved to a bubble). Teams are also being decimated by injuries, with some players blaming them on not having enough time to prepare for the resumption of the season.
On Monday, Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, whose team is the latest to deal with a coronavirus-induced disruption, discussed what his approach could be between now and the deadline.
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"We're juggling a few things right now -- all of us in the industry. We have begun discussions," Van Wagenen said Monday during a Zoom call with reporters. "We've had a lot of conversations with different teams, just about touching base and making sure we're in contact with teams about what their interests are, what their priorities may be. That process has started, but we don't have anything on the horizon at this point."
Van Wagenen has been aggressive when it comes to offseason moves and trade deadline moves, with one example being the trade with the Toronto Blue Jays last season that brought Marcus Stroman to New York in exchange for pitching prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson.
That move was made with an eye on 2020, with Stroman expected to be a big part of the Mets' rotation. Instead, Stroman will not pitch a single inning for the Mets this season due to him opting out over coronavirus concerns.
With the entire league in an uncertain spot due to the pandemic, Van Wagenen was asked what kind of impact that might have with the deadline approaching.
"It weighs in a variety of different ways," he said. "I think first and foremost, we experienced -- just even with these two positive tests -- how quickly needs might change or players or coaches or roles might need to be filled. Add on to that the inevitable injuries that guys face on a daily basis. There's always gonna be a lot of transactions that take place that are unexpected. First and foremost, what are our needs as a team at any point in time could change quickly between now and the end of the month and the August 31st trade deadline."
The Mets, who are two percentage points back of the second wild card spot in the NL (they're 12-14 and trail the 13-15 Colorado Rockies), are right in the mix. But with everything about this strange season still so uncertain, it would arguably be unwise for them to do anything in the next week that mortgages the future. And Van Wagenen doesn't sound like someone itching to trade any key prospects right now.
"The other factors that we have to consider are short-term upside to the roster, longer term control for players that can help over multiple years, and then ultimately what the acquisition costs are for each of those different situations," Van Wagenen explained. "We're gonna be very careful. I think the aggressive approach that we've taken in the past is not something that we will eliminate from a possibility. But we recognize we've got a 30-game season effectively, and less than that once the trade deadline comes and goes. And so we have to be responsible for the future of the organization while still being opportunistic for ways to improve the club.
"I wouldn't see a rental player for us or anybody else commanding a huge return in terms of prospects, and I think teams will be more conservative overall. But we haven't necessarily identified what the marketplace is for the short-term players and I know the longer-term players -- every year that a player has of control or the higher impact that player is is gonna create a higher acquisition cost. We'll blend all of those factors and ultimately try to make moves that fit our goals, but we're not gonna feel like we're (under) tremendous pressure to make a move just for the sake of making a move. ... We're not gonna do it at the sacrifice of our long-term goals."