1 NY Mets player who could leave the trade block if the team signs Kyle Tucker

There are no certainties in life. Death? Someone tell Willie Nelson. Taxes? Again, someone tell Willie Nelson. I don’t mean to pick on the redheaded stranger. He’s just the oldest tax evader kickin’ around these days. He’s relevant to this New York Mets conversation in a different way, too.

After the 2024 season, the Mets went to bed at 2 with a 10 and in 2025 seemed to wake up at 10 with a 2. This is in reference to Mark Vientos whose performance didn’t measure up to what the 2024 beer goggles told us.

He seemed all but certain to get traded this offseason. However, if the team is going to pay Kyle Tucker $50 million a year, it might be time to remove him from the trade block.

Nobody is rushing to trade for Mark Vientos and the Mets may have use for him after all

Let’s look at how the Mets lineup stacks up with Tucker. Put them in any order. Let’s just run down the list of names. Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, and of course Tucker. There’s also Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and at some point we’ll have Carson Benge. Who am I missing? Oh, it’s the other half of whatever the plan is at first base.

Tucker pushes the Mets into a financial stratosphere where every dollar is going to be even more painful on Cohen’s wallet. Luxury tax penalties are going to have him out there shoveling to get that casino built as quickly as possible. Vientos is still making the league minimum. With potential to pop 20 home runs in a bat season and add in some right-handed pop to a mostly left-handed lineup, it might not be so unwise to trade him away especially when the alternatives are signing guys like Paul Goldschmidt.

The Mets don’t seem to have any long-term plans for Vientos and that’s mostly because they have yet to fully implement the most practical one of all. He isn’t a third baseman. He’s a first baseman at best but maybe also just a DH. This is the year where they can fully invest their time and effort into him becoming exactly that.

MLB Network's mock Mets lineup with Tucker has Vientos cemented comfortably in the number five spot. Remove Vientos, you need to find the production somewhere else. They've gone this far without finding a trade partner. Even if they don't end up winning the Tucker sweepstakes, Vientos feels like he could stick around for another season.