It’s time for the Mets to start selling off assets for the rebuild

It’s safe to say this year hasn’t gone according to plan for the Mets, and the team should be moving veterans to prepare for their future.

The Mets entered this season with grand designs on competing for an NL East crown. Those preseason discussions seem like a distant memory now. Instead of making moves to prepare for a playoff run, the Mets need to start selling off veterans to prepare for the future.

To date, the team’s front office has resisted the urge to conduct a fire sale. Pressure will continue to pile on the Mets’ brain trust to move players ahead of the deadline though. Holding on to veterans at this point would equate to front office malpractice.

The real question isn’t whether or not the Mets should be moving players, instead, it is which players the team should love. Our list of five players the team should sell ahead of the deadline starts with a potential bargain starting pitcher for a contender looking to add an arm.

5. Zack Wheeler

Wheeler isn’t the pitcher most teams call the Mets about, but he is one starter the team is certainly willing to move. He might be an excellent fit for a team trying to solidify the back-end of their rotation.

The 28-year-old right hander is only 2-6 this season, but he’s posted a respectable ERA of just 4.36. He isn’t the sort of pitcher who’s going to make a huge impact for a team in the playoffs, but he can help a team reach the postseason.

He can do that by helping eat up innings with the performance of an average starter. That doesn’t make him the sexiest arm available this summer, but the price should be right for a contender sometime this month. The Mets would likely let him go for any sort of reasonable prospect. Wheeler is very likely to be the first Met moved ahead of the deadline.