NY Mets are 3 for 3 if they trade Brett Baty after recent endorsement

The New York Mets roster overhaul knows no end. Back in November after acquiring Marcus Semien, David Stearns spoke about how Jeff McNeil can still have a role on the team. About a month later, he was traded.

He had some of the same compliments toward Luisangel Acuna in early November. He had a mostly honest assessment of Acuna, valuing his versatility and bench role. No doubt useful in the right situation, the circumstances of how this offseason unfolded made him far less useful with no more middle infield to defend.

Stearns has said some of the same things about Brett Baty. First penciling him in for significant time at third base and now declaring he could be a really good left fielder. The goal post is moving and we should expect he’s taking every phone call he can about a potential trade involving Baty.

The Mets are batting 1.000 if they trade Brett Baty after regularly endorsing his place on the team

Even if by some miracle Baty does become the solution in left field on some level, it’s not going to last. Carson Benge is knocking on the door so loudly your neighbors are getting alerts on their Ring app.

That’s not to say the Mets will trade Baty. Left field just seems a little far-reaching when you’ve already put two other players at brand new positions. Baty should be the utility player for the Mets that they’ve already traded away. However, it wouldn’t be a complete shocker to see them add a true outfielder like Austin Hays to provide them with a surer thing on defense. You can’t go into the year expecting Baty to be the solution at a position he is this unfamiliar with when you have another place for him to play that should be less of an adjustment, first base.

Stearns isn’t necessarily lying about any of this. His intentions have been incredibly flexible all offseason. Have they all been the greatest? This is a results-driven industry and as much as we can try to justify some of these moves, we need to see what actually happens to fully judge them.