NY Mets: 1 realistic trade candidate from every team

White Sox

The Mets have had a ton of defensive-minded center fielders in the last couple of years. Guys like Juan Lagares, Keon Broxton, Jake Marisnick, and Billy Hamilton have had that role just to name a few. Someone who I think is a step up from just a one-dimensional outfielder is Adam Engel.

By no means should he play every day, but I think Adam Engel would be a good get for the Mets. He’s one of the fastest players in baseball, shown by him being in the 98th percentile in sprint speed according to baseball savant. He can be a potential pinch-runner and fourth outfielder for the Mets next season.

Indians

Easily the best player on this list is Jose Ramirez. In my opinion, Ramirez is one of the ten best players in baseball, and he might even be making a push for top five. This season, Ramirez slashed .266/.355/.538 with 36 home runs and 103 RBI. Ramirez’s 137 WRC+ was good for seventh in the American League.

Along with that elite bat Ramirez has an outstanding glove. He was in the 94th percentile in outs above average this season according to baseball savant. The switch-hitting third baseman is an elite option and if Cleveland makes him available, the Mets should be all over him to pair with Francisco Lindor again.

He will cost a king’s ransom, but I’d be comfortable giving up any prospect package as long as it doesn’t include Francisco Alvarez. Please make this happen.

Tigers

A player who had a really underrated and good season is Robbie Grossman. He slashed .239/.357/.415 with 23 home runs and 67 RBI. Grossman stole 20 bases and was fourth in all of baseball with 98 walks.

Grossman can fill in and play right field if Michael Conforto leaves and hit towards the top of the order in front of or behind Brandon Nimmo. Having two guys who will work pitch counts and draw a ton of walks in front of the Mets’ big boppers sounds really good to me.

Grossman is under contract making $5 million dollars next season, a bargain for someone who was really productive for the rebuilding Tigers in 2021.

Royals

The injury bug seems to hamper the Mets every year. This season it felt like every key player spent time on the IL. Dom Smith was the only projected starter to not make a trip onto the injured list. Someone who never gets hurt and has played in every game in each of the last three seasons is Whit Merrifield.

Merrifield is one of the more underrated players in baseball. He plays every single day at a bunch of different positions. He plays a lot of second base, has spent time in the outfield as well.

Merrifield slashed .277/.317/.395 for the Royals this season with 10 home runs and 74 RBI. Those numbers are solid, but the best quality Merrifield has is his base-stealing ability. Merrifield stole 40 bases in 44 opportunities this season. He’s stolen as many as 45 in a season.

The 32-year-old somehow is only making $2.75 million dollars this season and has a $6.5 million dollar club option for next season.

With the Royals rebuilding, this might be their best chance to move on from Merrifield when he has two years of team control left. With Michael Conforto potentially leaving, the Mets can stick Merrifield in right field, or they can decide to play him at second base and move Jeff McNeil to third.

Plugging Merrifield in the top of this Mets lineup either in front of or behind Brandon Nimmo would create an unreal top two which would cause a lot of problems for opponents before pitching to guys like Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.

Twins

In what was a down year for the Twins, Jorge Polanco put up monster numbers. He slashed .269/.323/.503 with a career-high 33 home runs and 98 RBI. The 73-89 Twins might opt to tear everything down and rebuild, which would likely mean trading Polanco while his value is at its highest.

This season was definitely not a fluke. In the last full season in 2019, Polanco slashed .295/.356/.485 with 22 home runs and 79 RBI. The Mets can get Polanco and plug him somewhere in the infield, giving them a switch hitter who can hit for power.

Polanco’s contract is very team-friendly as well. He has three years guaranteed at $23.5 million dollars total, and a club option in 2025 worth $12 million dollars. The 28-year-old is in his prime and should continue to be a really good player on a really team-friendly contract.