Mets' Francisco Lindor discusses trade deadline after missed opportunity

The New York Mets had an opportunity during their four-game series versus the lowly Miami Marlins (35-65) to send quite a message to owner Steve Cohen and team president of baseball operations David Stearns regarding how they should approach next Tuesday's MLB trade deadline.

Instead, the Mets merely salvaged a series split via Monday's 6-4 win ahead of back-to-back games at the 60-42 New York Yankees.

"That’s their job, let them make the decision they’re going to make," Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said following Monday's win about possible trades Stearns could make over the next week, as shared by John Flanigan of SNY. "We’re here to play the right way and hopefully we’re in a position where we can help them make decisions that aren’t like last year."

The good news for the 51-48 Mets is that they began Tuesday in possession of a National League wild-card playoff spot even though they lost two of four games against one of the worst clubs in all of MLB. The bad news is that the Amazins now have to deal with the Yankees before the Mets host the Atlanta Braves (54-45) for a four-game series that gets underway on Thursday evening.

Needless to say, those six matchups could ultimately determine if Stearns buys, sells or makes no major roster moves before next Tuesday night.

"At the end of the day," Lindor added, "they’re going to make the decisions they make. They're looking for this year but they’re also looking for the future. I trust David and the staff and I’m here to play as hard as I can to ensure that the group continues to climb."

As recently as Tuesday morning, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan noted that Stearns could make impending free agents such as designated hitter J.D. Martinez, along with starting pitchers Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea (player opt-out after this season), available to other clubs before July 30.

"Stearns knows the perils of trying to add and subtract simultaneously," Passan wrote, "but for a team with a future that needs more bright spots, focusing exclusively on the present would constitute a mighty deviation from the plan hatched upon Stearns' arrival."

Meanwhile, first-year Mets manager Carlos Mendoza essentially challenged his club to put deadline-related distractions out of their minds heading into Tuesday's game in the Bronx.

"We just have to keep the same mindset and continue to play well," Mendoza said after Monday's win. "You just take things one day at a time, come to the ballpark, prepare, go out and compete, and worry about the task at hand which is taking things day by day starting against the Yankees."