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In a quiet Mets clubhouse Saturday, Mark Canha said he just wanted to learn his fate with the trade deadline approaching this Tuesday.
“The uncertainty is uncomfortable,’’ Canha said before starting at first base in the Mets’ 11-6 loss to the Nationals. “You want to know. It’s a helpless feeling because there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s always in the back of my mind. You compartmentalize things, but the worst part is not knowing. I try not to worry about it, but that’s not easy.
Canha said his focus remained on the Mets’ games.
“I just go out and play good baseball and try to help us win,” said Canha, who signed a two-year deal with the Mets prior to the 2022 season. “I just dive into my work and wait to see if something happens.”
He filled in at first base Saturday, going 2-for-3 with the streaking Pete Alonso in the lineup at DH.
Tommy Pham, who had been dealing with tightness in his right groin, started in left field and went 2-for-4 with a solo homer.
Pham is also on an expiring contract and is having a productive season at the plate, making him another potential trade candidate.
Manager Buck Showalter said Pham’s health was “in a good place. He can push it if needed.’’
The plan, according to Showalter, was for Pham to play left Saturday and then get Sunday off before the Mets’ day off Monday.
The schedule, Showalter said, was not related to Pham’s potential availability on the trade market.
“We’re probably being overcautious, but it has nothing to do with if he’s available in some transaction someone is thinking of,’’ Showalter said. “We look at it with the medical people’s eyes. The whole thing was to get him to 100 percent [healthy].”
Showalter said Starling Marte, who has been on the injured list due to the effects of multiple migraine headaches, received encouraging news after a second opinion on the situation, but there was still no timetable for his return.
“I know he feels better about hearing the same thing from two people,’’ Showalter said. Marte last played July 16 and is in the midst of a disappointing season after he had core muscle surgery in November.
Brooks Raley finished both wins since the trade of closer David Robertson, but that doesn’t mean he’s the Mets’ new closer.
Showalter said Saturday he liked the left-handed Raley against the right-handed pinch-hitters the Nationals figured to use on Friday.
Edwin Diaz, still recovering from a torn right patellar tendon suffered during the WBC, won’t be an option until later in the season, if at all.Of Diaz’s status, Showalter said Saturday, “He’s right where he needs to be.”
And David Peterson has impressed out of the bullpen since being bumped out of the rotation, most recently with two scoreless innings Friday.
Showalter said he has liked the way Peterson has looked in the new role, but they continue to believe he will be a starter down the road.
Sam Coonrod, rehabbing from a lat strain with the St. Lucie Mets, also could be an option out of the pen at some point next month.
**Francisco Alvarez hit his 20th homer in Saturday’s loss, becoming just the third Mets rookie to hit that milestone, along with Alonso (who hit an MLB-record 53 homers in 2019) and Darryl Strawberry (26 in 1983). Only 11 catchers have hit 20 homers as a rookie in MLB history.
Darius Bazley, who signed a one-year deal with the NBA’s Nets earlier this month, threw out the first pitch prior to the game Saturday.
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