The Mets should not be buyers. They should be aggressive buyers at the deadline.

NEW YORK — When Carlos Mendoza discussed Wednesday how his bullpen plans change from moment to moment during a nine-inning game, he chuckled about the idea of ​​making a plan before the game and sticking to it.

“I don’t know if there’s ever a time when you come up with a game plan and you stick to it,” the Mets manager said. “Every time you make an adjustment because the game is unfolding. … You have an idea, but then you have to make adjustments.”

Perhaps Mendoza’s boss, David Stearns, should take that advice to heart for this season.

The Mets entered 2024 with a clear, consistent plan from ownership all the way to the locker room. While they didn’t have the lofty expectations of previous spring training seasons, they believed they could be legitimate postseason contenders while maintaining a sustained streak of future contention. And here they are, days before the trade deadline, as legitimate postseason contenders who have maintained a sustained streak of future contention.

But after another memorable victory on Thursday night, a 3-2, walk-off win over Atlanta that felt like the inverse of so many nightmarish nights at Turner Field, maybe it’s time for Stearns and New York’s front office to get a little greedy about 2024. Yes, the Mets are going to be buyers at the trade deadline. But let’s make a case for the Mets to do more than add a reliever in the coming week, a case for the Mets to be aggressive buyers like they last were en route to an unexpected pennant in 2015.

The Mets are good enough

On the morning of July 26th, let’s create some blind resumes for teams through the years.

Okay, blindfolds off! What do all these relatively similar teams have in common? They all won the pennant.

They were also quite aggressive at the trade deadline. I classified the 2018 Dodgers (Manny Machado) and 2022 Phillies (David Robertson, Brandon Marsh and Noah Syndergaard) as All-in Buyers — teams that gave up significant prospect capital for the present. The 2019 Nationals added three relievers, including the man who would make the final out of the World Series. In 2021, Atlanta acquired four outfielders, including the NLCS and World Series MVPs. In 2023, Arizona traded a closer to better position itself for the postseason.

(For anything, the 2015 Mets, also an All-in Buyer, were 50-48 with a negative-seven point differential on July 26.)

No, the Mets lack the kind of rotation and bullpen you normally rely on to carry you in October. New York, however, has an offense that seems built for the postseason. As evidenced by their two Gerrit Cole bashes in the past month, the Mets’ lineup can hold its own with the best of them. Only Baltimore has hit more homers since the Mets’ hot streak began on May 30, and they’re tied for fourth in the majors in homers on the season — ahead of everyone but the Dodgers in the National League. On Thursday, New York played a dominant Chris Sale as Francisco Lindor turned a Sale error into two Mets’ runs.

Homers carry the offense in October. The equally productive but differently composed offense in 2022 tied for 15th in the league in home runs, then saw Atlanta and San Diego outscore it in the biggest games of the season. This Mets offense can turn a short series with its power.

The National League is open

Here’s an important caveat: If I were covering the Pirates or the Reds or the Padres or the Diamondbacks, I’d probably be saying the exact same thing. Because the National League is as open as it’s been in years.

Los Angeles and Atlanta have been the top two teams on the senior circuit in recent seasons. Both teams are facing more turbulent regular seasons than they are used to. The Dodgers continue to have health questions about their rotation, a dynamic that doomed them last October. Atlanta’s best hitter and best pitcher are out for the season. The lineup looks a shadow of what the Mets are used to facing.

While the Phillies have taken over as the NL’s best team, they’re a team the Mets can beat quite well. They memorably went 14-5 against Philadelphia in 2022, and even during a poor 2023 season, they went 6-7 against them. This year, the Mets are 2-4 against the Phillies. And, remarkably, New York is 10-3 since the start of the 2022 season when facing either Aaron Nola or Zack Wheeler.

The timing is actually right

It’s very tempting for teams to try to manipulate their window of contestation — to play it safe this year and put more eggs in one basket later. But by doing so, they often miss the year to win.

The 2015 Mets could have been more cautious: Syndergaard and Steven Matz were rookies, Wheeler was injured, the NL had several very good teams — surely the Mets’ best chance to advance in October would come later? As it turns out, that young rotation was never as healthy or dominant as it was at that moment, and the Mets’ aggressiveness paid off with a pennant.

(Compare that to the 2013-15 Pirates, who never made the big move of pushing a really good team over the top. They still haven’t won a postseason series since 1979.)

For the Mets, it’s also fair to ask: What year specifically are they waiting for? Injuries to several key prospects this year mean New York won’t be entering spring training in 2025 with plans to give a permanent spot to a talented rookie. The full intake of guys like Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuña and Ryan Clifford won’t happen until 2026 — by which time Lindor will be 32 and Brandon Nimmo 33, on the edge of their prime.

The goal is to open a sustained window of contention and jump on legitimate opportunities to win divisions, pennants and championships. The Mets are there. The two players they signed long-term are having the best years of their careers. Their cornerstone first baseman may not be around next year.

The window of battle has already opened.

What does this mean?

Let’s face it: This is where most columns like this end. There’s all this reasoning to go for it, now it’s Stearns’ job to make something of it.

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the current shape of the deadline market makes it hard to go for it. Teams like the Pirates and the Reds and the Padres and the Diamondbacks are all still in the National League, and the pool of sellers is smaller than usual. The best starter who’s likely to get traded might not start much this season. The best reliever who’s likely to get traded has a walk rate you wouldn’t easily hit in blackjack.

It’s harder to provide the kind of deadline blueprint I do for the offseason, because acquisition costs in trades are much harder to predict than salaries on the open market. So I’ll settle for suggestions that are more in line with an all-in approach.

1. Go with the White Sox and sign Garrett Crochet, assuming you draft him out of the bullpen in 2024. The Athletics reported Thursday that Crochet would prefer to remain in the starting lineup (albeit with limited innings) through the end of the season unless a team interested in acquiring him signs him to a contract extension.

As I noted Thursday morning, the Mets could use a long-term ace. Here’s a 25-year-old left-handed All-Star who leads the league in strikeouts and is interested in a long-term extension. That all feels like good stuff. (Like Wheeler, Crochet’s likely arbitration pay for the next two seasons will be suppressed by his lack of availability thus far in his career, so a long-term extension would cost less relative to the luxury tax than it otherwise would.)

Trade Crochet, extend him, and make him a multi-inning reliever with scheduled appearances the rest of the way. Imagine him slotting in behind your right-handed starters in the postseason and acting as a one-man bridge to Edwin Diaz. Put him back in the rotation in 2025 and beyond. That might be worth the significant prospect package it would require, because it would mean the Mets don’t have to dive into the deep end of the starting pitching market this winter for a free agent already in his 30s.

2. If Crochet proves too strong, combine a rotation upgrade (primarily a pitcher who misses more batters than the current starters) with two additions in the bullpen and one on the bench.

In the rotation, Detroit’s Jack Flaherty and Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi come to mind. Flaherty will cost a pretty penny, but he too could be a viable option to re-sign.

For the bullpen, one high-leverage left-handed pitcher should be the priority. Scroll past Tanner Scott to his teammate Andrew Nardi or to The Athletics‘s longtime target Andrew Chafin of the Tigers. Another multi-inning arm could also keep the group fresh. Cincinnati’s Buck Farmer or Detroit’s Alex Faedo could work there.

The final piece would be a versatile bench worker who could protect the Mets from setbacks or injuries at several positions. Detroit’s Andy Ibañez, Tampa Bay’s Amed Rosario, Toronto’s Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Oakland’s Abraham Toro would fit that role.

(Photo by José Buttó: Adam Hunger / Getty Images)