MLB trade deadline rumors: biggest questions ahead
Bob Nightingale breaks down the biggest trade deadline questions as contenders and sellers weigh their next moves.
DUNEDIN, FL — Clay Holmes has been traded once before. He found out when he was going to the New York Yankees in the checkout lane of a Pittsburgh Target. Pirates GM Ben Cherington called him to tell him he had been traded and Holmes was quickly searching the aisles for a razor. He had a plane to catch and a beard to shave.
Now, five years later, he is on the block again. This time, he’s a more known and wanted commodity, and because he has been on the injured list he has had 10 weeks to sit with it.
He doesn’t love the uncertainty, but he’s not dreading anything.
“It was such a good experience the last time, because I just took it for what it was and accepted it,” Holmes said Tuesday night. “I am going to try and do that same thing this time. Whatever happens, I just try and come at it with a new perspective, fresh eyes and just enjoy it and just kind of hang on.”
Hanging on is harder this week when the ride hasn’t even started.
Holmes pitched four scoreless innings for Single-A St. Lucie on Tuesday night against Dunedin in a ballpark with maybe 250 people in it. Six days before the MLB trade deadline, the five scouts behind home plate stood out and were a reminder that as Holmes grinds to get back, nobody knows where his next start will be, or what organization it will be for.
The Mets are 45-62, last in the National League East, and have told teams that Holmes is available. He can walk after this season and he has confirmed that there have been no substantive extension talks with the Mets. So, his name has been linked in reports to the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and even the Yankees.
“I can’t address any rumors or anything. I have no clue,” Holmes said when asked about a possible return to the Bronx. “But it’s a place that I’ll always be grateful for. A lot of great memories, great relationships. It’s a great organization. I definitely have some good friends over there.”
He made a name for himself in pinstripes after that surprising 2021 trade. He came in a unknown and left as a prized free agent.
“I wasn’t necessarily a hot commodity,” he said. “It kind of came out of nowhere as a big surprise.”
He went on to save 74 games for the Yankees, earn an All-Star nod and was able to turn that into a three-year $38 million deal with the Mets to become a starter.
Now, he’s an established pitcher with experience starting and relieving, and an elite groundball rate of more than 55% that contenders can use in the rotation and bring out of the bullpen in the playoffs. So, his name has been out there almost every day since he fractured his leg on a comebacker in May. The recovery and rehab has left him a lot of time, too much time, to hear about the rumors and think.
“It’s easy to get caught up in a lot of what-ifs, a lot of stories that may or may not be true,” Holmes said. “You just really have to focus on what you can do.”
On Tuesday, that was pitching four scoreless innings with three strikeouts and two walks. He threw 59 pitches and felt good. He thinks he is built up enough to have a conversation with the Mets about making his next start on Sunday.
That’s the day before the trade deadline, so who knows if it will be his last start for the Mets organization or his first in another. He isn’t sweating it.
“You can’t control that,” he said. “But if you’re just kind of grateful for the situation you are in, and just be present with people around you, it can be a lot of fun.”