NEW YORK — While the New York Mets’ pitching staff presents their most obvious trade candidates, their position players provide much of the intrigue leading up to Aug. 3. The Mets have some stars with contracts likely too complicated to move and several players under longer team control who have been inconsistent over the last few seasons.If the Mets are going to make a splash, it’s by trading away someone from this group.It’s been a hot minute since that lineup was the problem. While offensive ineptitude was the story of New York’s slow start, it’s been putrid pitching that has pushed them down the National League standings over the last three weeks. (Case in point: Tuesday’s 16-12 loss to the Kansas City Royals was the first time the Mets had ever lost a home game in which they scored more than 10 runs.)So let’s examine New York’s trade candidates among position players. I’ve previously done this exercise for the starting rotation and for the bullpen.Francisco LindorWith both Lindor and Bo Bichette, I’m going to run through this exercise in part to show the unlikelihood of a deal getting done. On Lindor, nothing in our reporting has indicated that the Mets will try to trade him. That said, this season has gone poorly enough that you can’t definitively rule out a major change.Contract status