They were in fourth place, 7 ¹/₂ games out of a wild card, yet desperate to believe they were in it and to convince their fan base to keep coming to games. So the Mets made a win-now move and sacrificed their best lefty pitching prospect.

This was late July 2004 and the Mets tried to have a win-now, win-later — try to win the press conference — trade deadline. So they obtained Kris Benson, Victor Zambrano and a few years of their control and, most notably, undersold lefty Scott Kazmir to the Rays in the trades. It all proved regrettable.

The Mets finished Sunday in fourth place, six games out of a wild card, yet desperate to believe they were in it and to convince their fan base to keep coming to games. So the Mets made a win-now, win-later — try to win the press conference — move. They agreed to send their top lefty pitching prospect, Anthony Kay, and righty Simeon Woods Richardson, to the Blue Jays for Marcus Stroman. The deal needed physical review to be official, but all the players had been notified.

Brodie Van Wagenen has made clear he does not believe the Mets could go into a full rebuild and that he will be unafraid to act boldly. He remains aggressive even after an offseason slate of moves have gone terribly, in general. Just about every contender that needed a starter was tied to Stroman — the Yankees, Astros, Twins, Braves, etc. And it was the Mets, who have five teams in front of them for just the second wild card, who secured the right-hander.

The optimist sees the Mets trading solid, but not overwhelming prospects — neither Kay nor Woods Richardson is viewed nearly as well as Kazmir in 2004. And adding Stroman does not prevent the Mets from still keeping or trading Noah Syndergaard and/or Zack Wheeler and/or Jason Vargas and continuing to reconfigure short- and long-term. Stroman is not a free agent until after next season, so the Mets can either try to sign the Long Island native long-term or still have the option to trade him in the offseason or next July should their 2020 season swerve badly.

But let’s say there was pessimism galore in the industry, with other organizations confused at what the Mets did, in part because Stroman is second in the majors among qualified starters in inducing grounders while the Mets have statistically the worst infield defense. Of course, it is hard to judge the Stroman deal initially without knowing what else the Mets do before Wednesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline because the face of the team could change so much.

The Mets have won four straight with a soft schedule just ahead, 10 games against the White Sox, Pirates and Marlins. Still, contenders are anticipating they remain in sell mode and that Syndergaard very much is in play, as is closer Edwin Diaz. Outside executives have mentioned how difficult it is to thread this needle of buying and selling concurrently, trying to stay relevant now and better for the future. But the deal for Stroman indicates this is the path the Mets have picked.

In Kay and Woods Richardson plus Justin Dunn and Jarred Kelenic, who went last offseason for Diaz and Robinson Cano, the Mets have unloaded four of their best prospects with no unquestioned contending payoff yet. They can recoup prospects for their available pitchers, especially since they further drained the market by obtaining Stroman.

The A’s were among the teams that were interested in Syndergaard and have a special adviser to baseball operations who knows him well because Sandy Alderson acquired Syndergaard for the Mets. But the Padres remain the strong perceived front-runner if the big righty is moved.

The Padres’ system is stacked, but multiple executives say that the top-100 prospect glean on many San Diego farmhands outstrips projections. For example, Luis Urias, generally viewed as San Diego’s top position prospect, is a youngster who gets widely different reviews from evaluators, from glowing to good but not great.

Urias is viewed as available, but San Diego’s top two pitching prospects, Mackenize Gore and Luis Patino, are not. Gore might be the game’s best pitching prospect, so that is understandable. But should Patino be in play for someone as talented as Syndergaard? Do the Mets have good enough evaluators to separate prospects from the overhyped?

The Mets are by far the most interesting potential seller as the hours tick toward the deadline. But they also turned into fascinating buyers Sunday. Did that take them to a better future, or to 2004 revisited?