Three Mets trades to upgrade a position where they could use a boost

1) Center Fielder Ramon Laureano

There is no guarantee that the Oakland Athletics will be looking to deal their 26-year old starting center fielder, but there may be no other team in baseball that has as many key impending free agents than the A’s this offseason. With the number of impact players that the A’s may need to re-sign and as a team that operates with one of the smallest budgets in baseball, the front office in Oakland may need to get creative in acquiring Major League talent this offseason.

The Mets have a gaping hole at center field and the Dominican-born Laureano would be a shoo-in to the starting lineup next season as he is regarded as one of the better defenders in center field in all of baseball, and he also has one of the strongest arms in the entire game. Adding Laureano to the Mets would give the organization the ability to play to their strengths and slide Brandon Nimmo back into a corner outfield position where his defense profiles better than in center field.

While Laureano had his worst offensive season in 2020, Laureano had hit .288 in consecutive seasons during the 2018 and 2019 campaigns, and also has shown some pop with his bat as he slugged 24 home runs back in 2019. Laureano also can get on base with his career .343 on-base percentage and has a good career OPS of .818. It also doesn’t go without saying that Laureano who is a right-handed hitter would help break up the left-handed heavy Mets lineup.

New Team President Sandy Alderson who just recently spent time with the Athletics organization would be very familiar with Laureano’s skill-set and Alderson’s connection with his former organization could possibly make a deal easier to make for the Mets sake. This deal would also would not just be an impact move for 2021 but also for future seasons to come as the Mets would have team control of Laureano until 2025, which would make him an additional piece of the young core of players currently in Queens.

With the Athletics potentially having a hole at shortstop with Marcus Semien hitting the open market, Amed Rosario could potentially be a trade asset the Mets could use to acquire the stud center fielder this offseason.