The New York Mets have stumbled to the finish line in 2021, going from sitting comfortably in first place for much of the year to a third-place finish. They have missed the postseason for the fifth consecutive year. It was a very frustrating and disheartening year in Steve Cohen’s first year as the team owner.
With Cohen at the helm and his $14 billion dollar net worth, the Mets are expected to and must spend this offseason. There are plenty of free agents for them to look into like Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, and Nick Castellanos. They also have plenty of free agents to look into re-signing like Marcus Stroman, Javier Baez, Michael Conforto, and Noah Syndergaard.
While the free-agent route is always appealing since the Mets only have to give up money to get players, the trade route is an acceptable path to improving the team as well.
There are plenty of trade candidates the Mets should look into to try and improve this team.
They have a lot of holes to fill. They’re 27th in all of baseball in runs per game at a pathetic 3.89 runs per game. It goes without saying the Mets must improve their lineup to win games.
They also need to improve their pitching. Once Jacob deGrom went down with an injury, the Mets starting rotation really struggled in the second half which was a huge reason why the Mets collapsed down the stretch. Upgrading the rotation and team depth, in general, will go a long way.
A great way for the Mets to go about getting the pieces they need without spending $20 million dollars or more on every position is via trade. Here are some targets the Mets should look into.