1 player the NY Mets should (but won’t) trade this summer

It’s a little easy to forget how the New York Mets actually have a popular 2025-2026 MLB offseason trade candidate on their roster. That’s because the way Brett Baty has performed for the club this year, you’d think no one would have had a whole lot of interest in him.

Offseason rumors included a potential trade to the Pittsburgh Pirates with no specified return. We also got a noted rejection of the Miami Marlins offering the Mets Edward Cabrera for Baty and A.J. Ewing.

Instead of sending him elsewhere, the Mets tried to turn Baty into a super utility player. What have they gotten? While Baty has been admirable at multiple positions and is saving them currently defensively at third base while Francisco Lindor is out, he’s clearly not the big league hitter they saw in the latter part of the 2025 season when he bought goodwill with his bat. In the current state of MLB where there’s a severe lack of talent at the hot corner, the Mets absolutely should shop Baty. Predictably, they won’t.

Why the Mets should trade Brett Baty

Do it now before the value goes down even further. A lack of power, a whole lot of ground balls, and the remaining “what ifs?” that may be in the brains of other executives should have the Mets pulling the plug on any and all Baty experiments. This is assuming the Mets are trade deadline sellers and not buyers. Although, when you think about it, the Mets might also want to think about packaging in a situation where they are intending to contend.

The Mets have traded big leaguers at the deadline in the recent past with varying results. Jose Butto went to the San Francisco Giants last year in the Tyler Rogers deal. In 2022, the more sickening trade for Darin Ruf ended J.D. Davis’ run in New York. Baty, packaged with others for a real first baseman, can work.

Realistically, with the Mets fighting to keep their heads above water, the more practical thinking is for the Mets to trade Baty because they’re selling. One could make the case they should hold him and simply reduce his role. In the offseason, there are also more teams who could circulate trades because the summer sellers can decide to buy in the winter. A team like the Boston Red Sox who look headed toward selling players as well would be a team that might swap with the Mets in November but wouldn’t in July.

Low trade value at the moment, the Mets are kidding themselves if they believe he’s a year away from making his mark. He has fought to keep his OBP above .300 all year. The power has rarely surfaced at the big league level. He is beginning to profile as a bench player you start twice a week in place of your right-handed hitter who struggles against tough righties. The Mets don’t have a guy like that anyway. If Baty sticks around beyond this year, what’s he going to do other than re-live the same premise over and over again?

It’s not a fatal mistake to hold onto Baty if teams refuse to give you anything worthwhile. However, the best-case scenario in the offseason is probably flipping his body for a more experienced and/or costly veteran on a bad contract. 

The Mets went into the offseason and the regular season showing a lot of faith in Baty’s ability to play multiple positions. Has their opinion changed? With Mark Vientos distracting many of us from how poorly Baty has done yet again, the front office needs to wake up. They must gamble on the one thing they’ve often gotten right several times: moving on from particular players. Do it now with Baty before the last bits burn up.

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