The ice is broken and possibilities are opening up for the Mets on the trade front.
They must take advantage of all their years of losing: It is sell time, baby.
After Saturday night’s terrible 5-3 loss to the Rangers at Citi Field, the fourth-place Mets are 11 games under .500 and 11 back of the Braves. With each start, Bartolo Colon loses value.
Billy Beane became an assistant general manager of the A’s under Sandy Alderson. Beane got the trading season off to a rollicking start Friday, landing pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Cubs for three prospects: shortstop Addison Russell, outfielder Billy McKinney and pitcher Dan Straily.
The Cubs are sellers. They have a better record than the Mets. They also have three shortstops in Starlin Castro, Javier Baez and Russell.
You can expect them to trade Castro for pitching. The Mets have that young pitching. Castro could make as much as $60 million with his current contract that runs through 2020, if the final option year is picked up.
The Mets could fix their shortstop problem by making a deal for Castro. However, sending away young pitching while spending that much money on a shortstop does not seem to be the move here. The way the Mets do business, it makes little sense to give up young pitching while buying a pricey player.
There are plenty of possibilities, including landing Carlos Gonzalez from the Rockies, who seem ready to trade the former batting champion. The Mets could use a left-fielder who would sit in the middle of the lineup.
David Wright came back to that lineup Saturday night.
The Mets must get Wright more help in the batting order. Until they do, this is a team that will have issues no matter how much young pitching comes their way.
The Mets have veterans Colon and Dillon Gee available. Trade them before it’s too late. It’s too late to deal Jon Niese, who appears headed to the disabled list with shoulder issues.
Colon has surrendered five runs and two home runs over seven innings to a terrible Rangers team. His ERA is 4.04.
Don’t stop there, Mets. Trade Daniel Murphy, too. The Blue Jays and Giants need help. Alderson pointed out that Matt Reynolds and Wilmer Flores are both doing well in the minors. Take a leap of faith.
Beane showed he is not afraid to trade prospects — but he is trying to get to a much higher level than his old boss. The A’s were 53-33 heading into Saturday and battling top-flight teams in the AL West.
Will their trade open the trade floodgates across the majors?
“I think probably it will cause some calls to be made earlier than otherwise,’’ Alderson told The Post. “I think from a buyer’s standpoint, it probably raised a little anxiety because it took two guys off the market. From a seller’s standpoint, probably it raised the ante a little bit because it took two guys off the market.’’
In the big picture, does that put the Mets in a better situation because they do have pitching to trade?
“Conceivable, if that’s what we wanted to do,’’ Alderson said. “It takes a couple of guys out of the market.’’
Alderson also made this point about the impact of the A’s-Cubs trade: “It may cause a previously uninterested club to say, ‘Gee, if they can get that, maybe I can make somebody available.’ So it’s a dynamic environment. But I would say on the surface, it takes two guys out of the market and that’s two fewer that were going to be there.’’
All that has to help the Mets make a move for someone they value. They must get hitting help.
The trade ice is broken. The Mets need to start dealing. Teams are ready to move. This could be a fascinating few weeks.
We’ll see if Alderson can make a bold move like Beane, his former front-office pupil.