The New York Mets have a glaring hole in their bullpen, and the trade deadline will be their best opportunity to fill it.
The untimely season-ending injury to A.J. Minter in April left the Mets without a reliable left-handed reliever for high-leverage spots. It’s the most obvious blemish on a red-hot ballclub that has won 16 of its last 20 games.
No offense intended to José Castillo, who has yet to allow a run in his 8 2/3 innings with the Mets. But relying on a castoff from the Arizona Diamondbacks as your only southpaw is a recipe for a letdown.
One baseball writer thinks the Mets should be rooting hard for a Boston Red Sox collapse over the next month. If that happens, New York might be in a position to grab a legendary fireballer.
On Friday, Newsweek’s Andrew Wright named Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman as a top prospective trade target for the Mets this summer, with Boston sitting two games under .500 seven weeks before the deadline.
“If the Red Sox continue to struggle, Chapman’s one-year contract makes him an easy trade target, and the Mets have all the assets to get Chapman in the blue and orange,” Wright wrote.
Follow The Sporting News On WhatsApp
“Chapman is having an excellent season in the Boston bullpen to the tune of a 1.59 ERA, 12 saves and 39 strikeouts in 31 appearances and 28 1/3 innings. His average fastball velocity sits at 99.2 mph, good for the 99th percentile.”
Chapman’s one-year, $10.75 million contract looks like a steal at this point, and it’s a drop in the bucket for the Mets to add the final third of that to their payroll. The much bigger question is availability.
Boston went all-in on a playoff push this offseason, so they’ll have to drop much farther out of the Wild Card hunt to be convinced to sell. They’re currently three games back of the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins for the third and final spot.
More MLB: Yankees-Reds trade pitch sees Cincinnati part ways with $21 million starter
