Mets predicted to land $11 million 7x All-Star in huge trade with Red Sox

The New York Mets are an excellent baseball team with one small blemish.

In late-game scenarios, these Mets don't have a shutdown left-handed reliever they can lean on. Offseason signee A.J. Minter went on the season-ending injured list at the end of April, and their only current lefty in the bullpen is José Castillo, who came from the Arizona Diamondbacks' scrap heap.

There are always a handful of lefties available at the trade deadline, but in a year where they expect to make another deep postseason run, the Mets might as well swing big.

Seven-time All-Star Aroldis Chapman would be the prize of the relief pitching market if he were available. He's on a one-year, $10.75 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, who were 36-36 entering play on Sunday.

In a YouTube video published Saturday, content creator Jim Riley predicted that the Mets would acquire Chapman in a deadline blockbuster to boost the back end of their bullpen alongside closer Edwin Díaz.

"Give me the New York Mets," Riley said. "When I think about the Mets' philosophy heading into this year, signing A.J. Minter, one of the bigger free-agent signings, but then Minter went down, the outline (is) that they want to have an impact lefty arm in that bullpen.

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"They still don't really have that. So go out and get one of the best that would be available, the best to do it this year, Chapman. And you would have a setup where once you get to the eighth inning, you put Chapman out there and in the ninth inning, you have Díaz."

Chapman, 37, still ranks in the 99th percentile of fastball velocity, at one point touching 103.8 miles per hour this season. He's got a 1.55 ERA through 32 outings, striking out 39 batters in 29 innings.

The Red Sox have been hot of late, and entering Sunday, they were only a game out of the Wild Card race. That could derail the Mets' (and everyone's) chances of acquiring Chapman, but it remains a possibility with six weeks to go until the deadline.

More MLB: Dodgers predicted to reunite with Red Sox's Walker Buehler in trade deadline surprise