A report from earlier in May suggested that the New York Mets could trade ace Freddy Peralta and other pieces who aren't locked down via multiyear contracts if the club was not deemed to be back in the playoff race by June 1. 

That was before the Mets suffered a 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday that dropped New York to 22-32 on the season. Following that defeat, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza sent somewhat of a warning to his players regarding the club's four-game losing streak and the fact that there's no real sign this team will be able to turn things around over the next two months of action. 

Carlos Mendoza knows it's getting late early for the 2026 Mets

"It sucks," Mendoza directly said, per John Flanigan of SNY. "I’ve been saying it, it’s not early anymore -- we’re not putting ourselves in a good position, obviously. We gotta go out and do it."

The Mets have dealt with a noteworthy injury crisis that has featured star shortstop Francisco Lindor being out of the lineup since he suffered a calf injury on April 22 and starting pitcher Clay Holmes being sidelined indefinitely due to the fractured fibula he suffered on May 15. 

As Max Goodman of NJ Advance Media pointed out, the Mets failed to score more than two runs over their last five games. Potential future Mets ace Nolan McLean has now produced back-to-back poor outings. In short, more has gone wrong than right for the Mets since the club ended April 7 with a record of 7-4.

Carlos Mendoza: Mets hitters have no excuses for lack of pop

"We can sit here and make excuses with some of the guys we’re missing, but we have big-league hitters here, and they are struggling," Mendoza continued. "We're having a hard time putting rallies together, and the biggest thing is our inability to drive the ball out of the park -- look at a night like tonight, we had nine hits but two runs -- it’s hard to score three or four by just singles, you gotta be able to drive the ball out of the ballpark."

It's unclear if Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns will seriously consider embracing a fire sale if the club remains in last place through the end of May. At this point, neither Mendoza nor anybody else associated with the Mets seems to have any fixes for what's ailing the club this spring.