The New York Mets have placed at least five players on the waiver wire in the interest of becoming more active on the trade front, reports Adam Rubin of ESPN.
It is not known for certain who all the Mets have placed on waivers -- beyond Marlon Byrd, who has been claimed by a National League team -- but the club is expected to consummate at least one trade in the next 48 hours.
The rumored trade candidates include a pair of veterans headed for free agency -- catcher John Buck and lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano -- and may also involve one or more MLB players who are under team control for a few more seasons. Per Rubin, the Mets have called up catcher Anthony Recker, outfielder Matt den Dekker and left-hander Robert Carson from Triple-A in case a trade goes down, so it may be that they'll deal all three above-mentioned veterans if they can.
The Mets passed on opportunities to trade Byrd and Buck at the July deadline. The club was reportedly underwhelmed by offers for Byrd and needed Buck behind the dish until top prospect Travis d'Arnaud was ready for the show. Now that both August and d'Arnaud are here, the situation has changed.
Byrd, 35, is (somehow) knocking the cover off the ball this year, batting .285/.330/.518 with 21 home runs in 117 games. The 33-year-old Buck hasn't had quite as much good fortune, going ice cold after a blistering April. He's hitting just .215/.285/.367 with 15 home runs in 101 games on the year.
Feliciano, who returned from a long DL stint at the beginning of August, owns a 3.38 earned-run average in just 10 appearances this season.
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