The New York Mets picked up Marcus Stroman this week but lost Jason Vargas to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The 36-year-old is a 14-year veteran in the league, and has a strong left arm, something the Phillies lack.

“Jason Vargas is battle-tested and has been relatively effective for the better part of a decade now,” Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said, according to ESPN. “He gives his team a chance to win the game every time he takes the ball. I like the fact it’s a different look. He’s a soft-tossing lefty. We have a lot of hard-throwing righties. He’s a good complement to our pitching staff.”

Vargas is coming off the back of a controversy within the Mets camp when he threatened multiple reporters after head coach Mickey Callaway was asked about his coaching choices following a loss. Vargas threatened to ”knock the f— out” reporter Tim Healey after he was asking frustrating questions to Callaway.

“My first thought was that was so out of character for Jason to be involved in anything like that,” Klentak said, according to ESPN. “The guy I knew in Anaheim, it’s just not who he is. He’s not an overbearing personality at all like that. He’s very popular in the clubhouse with everybody. He’s very likable. On the mound, he’s a very hard worker and good teammate. It just didn’t add up.”

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Vargas is owed over $2.5 million from the remainder of his $8 million contract salary that he signed with the Mets. The Phillies received cash considerations. His new contract with the Phillies is the same $8 million deal with the Phillies option for an extension for 2020. He has a $2 million buyout clause for other clubs.

For Vargas, the Mets received the Phillies’ minor league catcher, Austin Bossart.

Vargas has made 18 starts for the Mets this season, making 19 total appearances. He also has a WHIP of 1.272. The opener is 6-5 with an average 4.01 ERA.

Both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are considering trading for New York Mets pitcher Zach Wheeler, SNY reports.

Wheeler, 29, is finally starting to rework his way into form, playing in his second full season since having Tommy John surgery several years ago. This season, Wheeler has pitched to an ERA of 4.69 in 19 starts with 118 hits allowed in 119.0 innings pitched, 62 earned runs, 34 walks and 130 strikeouts.

According to the New York Post, the Mets and Red Sox have engaged in early-stage discussions about a possible trade for the right-hander. According to reports, as many as 10 different MLB teams have sent scouts to Citi Field recently to watch Wheeler pitch. The advantage in favor of the Red Sox, though, is the Mets are extremely familiar with the Red Sox minor league system. Prior to this season, Mets VP/assistant GM for scouting and player development Allen Baird and VP of player personnel Jared Banner both held roles in the Red Sox’ front office. Thus, the familiarity of the prospects factor.

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Entering the second half of the season, the Mets sit at 40-50, the National League’s second-worst record. Baseball-Reference currently gives the Mets a 1% chance to make the playoffs this year. Fangraphs gives them a 5.9% chance. The best thing for the Mets to do would be to sell at the trade deadline and not hold onto the smallest of chances that they will somehow make the MLB Playoffs in October.

According to reports, if the Mets do decide to be sellers at the trade deadline, Jason Vargas, Todd Frazier, and Wheeler are the three players that the Mets will explore trading the most.

The Atlanta Braves aggressively tried exploring a trade for Wheeler last summer, but the Mets were insistent on not selling the pitcher, especially to a divisional rival. This time around, we will see if their tone changes.

After last week brought us another embarrassing New York Mets moment after pitcher Jason Vargas threatened to “”knock the f— out” reporter Tim Healey, the media and Vargas aimed to go about post–game media operations with less hostility this time around.

Prior to his long awaited return to face the media after his absurd actions, Vargas first took the mound against the Phillies. Although the Mets lost another due to poor bullpen pitching, Vargas performed well and seemingly channeled out the noise surrounding him to focus only on baseball, as the lefty struck out ten batters and surrendered only two runs through 6.1 innings pitched. Although baseball remains Vargas’s main focus as a Met, the real challenge awaited him off the diamond, as the reporters poised to once again bring up his actions from last week most likely stressed Vargas to a greater extent than even Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, and the other Phillies hitters Wednesday.

As expected, questions regarding Vargas’s post game behavior arose almost immediately. In response, Vargas presented a rather vague explanation for himself as he stated, “I don’t think all the information is really out there. I don’t think this is a time to get into that. But I think that anybody that knows me, anybody that has played with me, there’s never been a situation like that. So to think it happened out of the blue, it’s foolish.” Vargas later went on to call the entire ordeal simply an “unfortunate confrontation.”

Although he apologized far quicker than Vargas, Mets manager Mickey Callaway joined his pitcher during last week’s altercation, as he called the same reporter which Vargas threatened, Healey, a “smart ass” after the loss. Both Callaway and Vargas received hefty fines not too long after their displeasurable comments.

The Mets continue to dredge on their mediocre season alongside this storm stirred up by Vargas and Callaway. With the All–Star break approaching quickly, New York appears moving closer to another season sitting outside the playoffs, as they sit 11 games behind the first place Atlanta Braves. With Vargas already a seasoned MLB player at 36 years old and Callaway failing to lead the Mets to consistency, their futures as Mets prompt large question marks looming above their heads. These question marks now expand to even greater extents as the two try and piece things back together and clean up their mess before things grow uglier in Queens.