Sandy Alderson reveals positions Mets are targeting ahead of MLB trade deadline

As the MLB trade deadline looms on Aug. 2, the first-place Mets have their sights set on addressing two primary areas of need: the designated hitter spot and relief pitching.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Post’s “The Show” podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, team president Sandy Alderson critiqued concerning trends that “can’t continue with a championship team.”

Chief among them is the DH spot, which has morphed into a black hole in the Mets’ lineup. Entering play on Tuesday, New York’s designated hitters have combined for a .689 OPS, the 19th-best in MLB; a bulk of that production has come from Pete Alonso on days that the slugger had not played first base.

J.D. Davis and Dom Smith — the two primary DH options, at the moment — are providing little power from a power-driven position, slugging .355 and .311, respectively, entering Tuesday.

“We’ve got among the lowest DH productivity in the game,” Alderson said. “Take Alonso out of it and it’s been very poor. … We’ve been waiting all season for one or two of those players to ignite, and that hasn’t happened.” 

For more on Alderson discussing potential solutions at DH, how Francisco Alvarez may factor in and the bullpen situation, listen to the latest episode of “The Show” above.