There were deals that could have been made, but Alderson didn't find any that appreciably helped the team.
The Mets had two prime trade candidates who were garnering interest, but did not make any moves Thursday as second baseman Daniel Murphy and starting pitcher Bartolo Colon both stood pat.
It was the third straight year the Mets did not do anything at the July 31 trade deadline, which left many Mets fans wondering why no moves were made. However, with the talent the team has in the farm system, general manager Sandy Alderson did not feel he was getting fair value for his players, according to Matt Ehalt of NorthJersey.com.
"While we were active in conversations—although not super active—we didn’t make any deals, I think going in we didn’t intend to be sellers and we didn’t intend to be buyers necessarily. We were looking at the market and what it would dictate. We set a price on some of our players, and under the circumstances they weren’t met. We’re happy with the team that we have."
Alderson did say there were potential deals that could have involved significant players on the Mets and other teams.
"We had conversations regarding significant players both from the Mets and from other teams in return. We never agreed on anything. In terms of moving anybody off of our major league club, we were a little bit careful about moving people off of the team, where we couldn’t get somebody who was major league ready, or able to be plugged in, in return"
Ultimately, Alderson did not pull the trigger for two reasons. The first reason was that the Mets were not willing to part with their pitching prospects.
"In order to potentially improve the club some significant way as opposed to some incremental way we would have had to have been prepared to deal some of our young pitching. At this particular stage we’re not prepared to do that, at least in the deals that were presented or available to us. I think if we’re going to trade some of our young prospects, we’re probably better off doing that in the offseason."
The second reason was because of the team’s record and standing in the National League East and NL wild card.
"I think our record and our standing in the division race and the wild card race had an impact, which is to say we’re neither here nor there at the moment. I think taking into account where we stand led us to set a price on the players we have. We felt comfortable where we set that level. We took the standings into account."
Alderson did say he took the same approach with this trade deadline as he did the last few deadlines. He said he feels more confident about this team, which also had a big impact on his decision-making.
You can listen to the full audio of Sandy Alderson's comments below.