Predicting what the Mets will do is often a hopeless exercise, as evidenced by Sunday’s trade for Marcus Stroman. New York is 11 1/2 games out of the lead in the NL East, and Mickey Callaway’s crew is six back of the second NL wild-card. The Mets’ playoff percentage currently sits at 14.2%, per Fangraphs. When most assumed a fire sale, the Mets doubled down.
Sunday’s Stroman trade signaled the Mets are still trying to compete in 2019, yet even that message has become muddled over the last week. New York is now shopping Noah Syndergaard, looking to deal a starter with one more year of team control than Stroman.