3 NY Mets players who'll definitely be gone after the Jorge Polanco signing

The addition of Jorge Polanco to the New York Mets roster will push several free agent or trade options to the side but more importantly a few players off of the roster entirely. Expected to play first base and DH, adding him helped make a few others more redundant and less needed for the coming year.

By signing Polanco, we can be assured none of these three players are on the team next year.

1) Jeff McNeil

Jeff McNeil is a different style of player than Polanco but in the same universe. Each is a versatile second baseman with McNeil being the less powerful/high-average type when things go well and Polanco being more pop/so-so average when he’s doing his best. It’s a matter of preference. The Mets, for likely an abundance of reasons, seem to prefer what Polanco can do as a first baseman/DH than McNeil in the variety of roles he could supply them.

Trade rumors involving McNeil are nothing new and should only pick up with this addition. They could conceivably keep him in a utility role. I’m not so sure he’d be so okay with or how this actually makes the Mets a good enough team. After all, merely taking up a roster spot better utilized on someone else would be the wiser choice.

Oddly, McNeil’s market just gained a new suitor. Whichever teams were considering Polanco, including his old team the Seattle Mariners, can suddenly turn to the Mets to help with a trade.

McNeil is coming off of a down year and hasn’t been his best for a couple of seasons. The poor finish in 2025 should have teams considering him as nothing more than a bottom-of-the-lineup type of addition who might be able to hold down the fort for them or become a forgotten part of the team by the time his option is turned down at the end of 2026.

It was already getting difficult to fit McNeil into next year’s plans. This signing confirms it.