Mets make Jonah Tong trade deadline decision amid 'subpar' 2026 season

Mets make Jonah Tong trade deadline decision amid 'subpar' 2026 season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.The 2026 season for the New York Mets has been a nightmare.

Not only have players missed a lot of time, but a lot of their big offseason acquisitions have struggled, and there's seemingly little hope for a turnaround this season.With that in mind, it's hard to imagine the Mets doing anything other than selling at the 2026 MLB trade deadline on August 3. While some MLB veterans are likely to move, what about younger players, and someone like Jonah Tong?

Well, according to Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Mets are unlikely to trade away Tong this summer, as they've seemingly decided to stick by him despite his rough 2026 season.Mets are unlikely to trade Jonah Tong amid a rough year"But despite a subpar season in Triple-A, the Mets are still holding starter Jonah Tong in high regard," Sammon and Rosenthal write. "While executives from different teams suggested the Mets would attract suitors if they put Tong on the market, New York likes him too much to do so, which makes any trade seemingly unlikely."

While there hasn't been a ton of buzz about trading Tong this season, especially with how bad things have gone, it might not have been a massive surprise if they traded their top pitching prospect to land some long-term investment.But such a bold move isn't likely to happen with this update. The Mets plan to keep Tong, and still believe he has a chance to turn into a good starting pitcher in his career.

MORE: Blue Jays trade idea swaps two top-10 prospects to Mets for Freddy PeraltaThis season, in 10 innings of work across three games for the Mets, Tong has a 3.60 ERA. But, down in Triple-A, Tong has a 5.

90 ERA in 14 starts. While his MLB work has been fine, that's been as a reliever, not a starter, where the Mets ideally want him.Last year, Tong had a 1.

43 ERA in 22 starts in the mino