The New York Mets lost 12-4 to the Chicago Cubs on Friday, their seventh straight defeat and another hard step into a season that has already gone sideways. By the time the final outs were recorded, the Mets were 7-13 and sitting in the NL East cellar.
That is more than a bad week. It is the kind of start that forces the front office, and Carlos Mendoza, to look past the standings and at a roster that is built to be hard to change. The team has been swept by both the A's and the Dodgers, and the article says it is locked into this core for more than just 2026, with a clogged payroll and little in the way of movable assets.
Some of the names that shape the roster explain why the escape routes are so limited. Bo Bichette has player options for 2027 and 2028 at sky-high AAVs. Marcus Semien's contract is described as one that no one is touching. Jorge Polanco is on the books for $20 million next season. Clay Holmes is the only obvious rental candidate, and even that comes with a catch: he is in his final year of team control, which makes him more useful as a trade piece than a long-term answer.
The few movable parts do not add up to a full reset. A.J. Minter could be flipped if he comes back healthy from a shoulder issue, but that depends on a recovery that has not happened yet. Luis Robert Jr. is described as one of the lone bright spots thus far, and an outfield of Soto, Luis Robert Jr. and Carson Benge is laid out as something of a foundation. Francisco Lindor remains a very good shortstop, and Francisco Alvarez is a keeper at catcher. Those pieces give the Mets a spine, but not much room to rebuild around it quickly.
That is where the problem turns from a bad April to a longer-term roster squeeze. The same article points to Freddy Peralta as a player New York might try to bring back after what it gave up to get him from Milwaukee, with Nolan McLean mentioned as a potential top-of-the-rotation partner. In mid-April, that is not a trade plan so much as a reminder that the Mets have already spent heavily to get here and may not have the flexibility to spend their way out.
For Mendoza, the immediate task is obvious: stop the losses before they turn into something deeper. The harder answer may be that this team is already boxed in, and the fixes that could matter most are the ones it does not currently have.
