Mets president David Stearns confirms area of need ahead of trade deadline

The New York Mets just wrapped up an unbelievable month of June, going 16-8 to get to within one game of the .500 mark. They enter Monday's game just 2.0 games back of the third Wild Card spot in the NL, a far cry from where they were at the end of May.

Thanks to this great run, the Mets are squarely in the postseason race. This means, assuming they don't collapse in the first couple of weeks in July, they'll be buyers or, at the very least, not sellers.

Assuming the Mets do buy, they have one clear need. It's been a need for much of the season, and Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns reinforced that on Monday according to Jon Heyman of the NY Post.

Mets need for bullpen help emphasized by David Stearns

Heyman mentioned that the Mets, barring an epic collapse, will not trade Pete Alonso and will instead look to upgrade the bullpen.

“Certainly, this is an area of the team we’re going to continue to monitor,” Stearns told The Post.

On paper, the Mets bullpen isn't awful, as its 3.77 ERA ranks 14th in the majors. When doing a deeper dive, however, there are issues.

First, this bullpen is not what it was on Opening Day. Brooks Raley and Drew Smith are out for the season. Sean Reid-Foley is currently injured. Edwin Diaz is in the middle of serving his ten-game suspension. Adam Ottavino has been a shell of himself after a hot start. Reed Garrett is another reliever who has slowed down substantially after a strong beginning. Jake Diekman has issued 20 walks in 25.1 innings of work.

It might be crazy to say, but the Mets' two best relievers right now are probably Dedniel Nunez, a reliever with just 14 games of MLB experience (all coming this season), and Adrian Houser, a long reliever who was on DFA watch after struggling so much in the rotation. That, for obvious reasons, is not sustainable.

Getting Diaz and Reid-Foley would help, so would the Mets getting more length from their starting pitchers, but at the end of the day, they don't have enough talent to do damage in October. The Mets have a strong lineup, and their starting pitching can be good when Christian Scott returns from the minors and Kodai Senga returns from the IL, but improving the bullpen is a must.