NY Mets Roster: Too early top 4 winter trade candidates

3) NY Mets trade candidate Jeff McNeil

It pains me to admit Jeff McNeil might not be the man we thought he was. His struggles in 2021 could have him parting ways with the Mets this offseason. Previously viewed as a core member of the franchise, what they decide to do with Javier Baez could be a major factor into whether or not McNeil gets a shot at redemption in Flushing.

McNeil is far removed from being a guaranteed trade piece. However, I feel this year he has replaced another guy perpetually on the block, Brandon Nimmo.

McNeil has been shifted around so much you would swear management is simply doing it to improve their feng shui. In the past, he has gotten through all of the defensive changes. This year, with second base belonging to nobody but him at the start, he came up short at the plate.

Despite being an older player still in his arbitration years, McNeil remains a desirable trade chip other teams would love to have. The down year might hurt his stock, but someone would pay a nice price to have him.

The likelihood of this is still slimmer than the other two candidates to make it onto this list. Because the organization never originally intended for McNeil to end up as such an important piece with the club, we could see them move on from him with a future plan to have Ronny Mauricio as the second baseman of the future.