The Major League Baseball trade deadline is set for 4pm et on Wednesday. Action has been quiet thus far as teams attempt to navigate the first season without a waiver deadline and only one shot to get it right Follow along with TSN.ca's MLB Trade Rumours Blog.

On Friday, the Mets are facing some big decisions when it comes to starting pitching.

Mets to decide on Thor, Wheeler

The immediate future of the New York Mets' rotation will likely be decided this weekend when general manager Brodie van Wagenen makes the call on whether or not to move starters Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler.

Neither will have any shortage of suitors, but the price tags on each hurler could dissuade many of them.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune's La Velle E. Neal III reports the Minnesota Twins are among the teams looking at Syndergaard. The expected asking price is a steep one and could force the Twins to look elsewhere.

Neal reports that the Mets have identified the Twins' two top prospects - shortstop Royce Lewis and outfielder Alex Kiriloff - as part of the package they're seeking for Syndergaard.

The 26-year-old native of Mansfield, TX has two years of team control remaining and is arbitration-eligible. It's for this reason that the Mets are looking for a premium return.

Syndergaard is 7-5 this season in 20 starts with an earned run average of 4.33 and a 1.263 WHIP over 126.2 innings pitched.

The Atlanta Braves could be another team to watch out for when it comes to Syndergaard.

The New York Post's Joel Sherman noted on Thursday night that Mets assistant GM Allard Baird was scouting the Triple-A Richmond Braves.

A trade to Atlanta would reunite Syndergaard with GM Alex Anthopoulos, the man who traded him to the Mets from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012 as part of a deal for knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.

As for Wheeler, the situation is vastly different, but it presents a different challenge.

Wheeler, 29, is a free agent at season's end. Should he remain on the Mets after the deadline, New York would be owed draft compensation should they qualify him - which they undoubtedly would - and he signs with another team in the offseason. If he were traded, however, there would be no compensatory pick attached which would make Wheeler considerably more attractive on the open market.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reports that right now, the Mets are leaning towards trading Syndergaard and re-upping Wheeler, whose season has been slowed by shoulder soreness and fatigue.

And one way the Mets might get a deal done with Wheeler, says Rosenthal, is through slight coercion - by letting him know that if were to reject a new deal, the team will qualify him making his free agency that much more difficult, something to which the likes of Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel can attest.

In his fifth season with the Mets, Wheeler is 6-6 over 19 starts this year with an ERA of 4.69 and a 1.277 WHIP in 119.0 innings pitched.

Giants switch gears after hot streak

A month ago, the San Francisco Giants were mired in the basement of the National League West and Bruce Bochy's esteemed tenure at the helm of the club looked headed for an ignominious end.

Flash forward to Friday and the Giants are winners of 19 of their last 23 and a game above .500. San Francisco currently sits 3.5 out of the second wild card in the NL and instead of divesting assets - including starter Madison Bumgarner - the team could be ready to load up, reports MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

Feinsand notes that if the team remains competitive in the playoff race though the weekend, chief executive Farhan Zaidi intends to buy to help his team down the stretch.

Zaidi, a native of Sudbury, Ont., says his aim is “trying to put ourselves in position to contend this year” and should the Giants become buyers, they most certainly will be seeking starting pitching help to upgrade the back end of a rotation that currently features Bumgarner, Jeff Samardzija, Shaun Anderson, Tyler Beede and Drew Pomeranz.

As for Bumgarner, regardless of what happens over the weekend, he appears increasingly unlikely to go anywhere.

The soon-to-be-30-year-old Bumgarner is 5-7 this season with a 3.66 ERA and WHIP of 1.168 over 132.2 IP in 22 starts.

Inciarte knows he could be odd man out in Atlanta

As the high-flying Braves look for help before the deadline, outfielder Ender Inciarte realizes that he could be used as a makeweight in any trade.

Under contract for three more years with an average annual salary of $8 million, the 28-year-old Inciarte has missed significant time with a back injury and is in the midst of the worst campaign of his six-year career.

Still, Inciarte hopes to stay where he is.

“A lot of things can happen, and that’s something I can’t control,” Inciarte told The Athletic's Jeff Schultz. “I haven’t heard if I’m going to get traded or not. I’m not trying to think if I’m going to be somewhere else because I’m here right now. If you ask me, would I rather be somewhere else, the answer is I’d rather not. I love Atlanta. There’s not any other uniform I’d like to wear.”

For the time being, Inciarte must get used to the new normal with the Braves, one in which he's no longer the starting centrefielder with rookie Austin Riley usurping the position.

"What matters most is the team is winning," Inciarte said. "If you asked me whether I want to play every day, yeah, of course, I do. But I’m not here to create a bad atmosphere or to put on a bad face because that’s not good for the team or for me. So I’m just going to work in the gym, in the cage, in the outfield, and when I get my chance to play, I’m going to do my best to be the old Ender."

Limited to only 45 games this season, Inciarte is batting .205 with two home runs, nine runs batted in and an OPS of .596.