3 NY Mets trade targets and 3 free agents who make too much sense to avoid

6) Sign Austin Hays

Seeing Austin Hays’ name in the Mets rumors last week wasn’t such a bad thing the more you think about it. He’s not the dream left field addition. What he does is give the Mets leeway to call up Carson Benge and maybe even platoon the pair. Hays is an outfielder who mashes left-handed pitching, making for a natural platoon partner with Benge once he comes up to the majors.

Hays can play the other outfield positions, but would be the answer in left field to begin the year. Sliding into a bench role within a couple of months and becoming one of their better right-handed bats off the bench isn’t such a bad situation to get into either. The Mets lacked this in 2025. An injury to Jesse Winker pushed Starling Marte into a more regular DH role. For the most part, the Mets were relying on their younger players to come off the bench.

The added bonus of Hays is he could be the first domino to fall among all of these names and leave the Mets room financially to add more. He makes sense to be paired up with Robert in the outfield whereas someone like Cody Bellinger probably means they’ll go much lighter in center field.

Hays’ being able to hit left-handed pitchers well shouldn’t be understated. It wasn’t a strength of the Mets last year. He seems like a natural to get 300-400 plate appearances and be a weapon in a reduced role if all goes well with the progress of the kids.