5 belated holiday gifts NY Mets fans will gladly accept from David Stearns

2) A right-handed power hitter

The Mets are looking at adding a right-handed power hitter who can play first base. Sound familiar?

The specificity of this doesn’t need to happen in order to satisfy the wish list. It just so happens that a right-handed hitter with power and a first base background seems to solve more than one of the questions with the roster. The Mets are very left-handed, have an uncertain top choice at first base, and need to replace the power lost by letting Pete Alonso walk away.

This might be the more exciting gift the Mets can give us only because the possibilities seem a bit more endless. Free agency’s only solution is Eugenio Suarez who seems like he’ll get better opportunities elsewhere. Are the Mets really going to not make Alonso an offer and then sign a weaker hitter? It would be downright insulting.

A token right-handed slugger is missing from the Mets lineup at the moment. If the season began today, who’d be the best option to hit behind Juan Soto? The Mets could get creative and not think about it as a position of power. Based on how well things worked last year with Alonso behind him, they’d be trying to fix something that isn’t broken by doing anything else.

Jorge Polanco is probably the most realistic option right now with Mark Vientos as the player, if he sticks around, who could grow into it. Optimistic fans may still believe Francisco Alvarez may one day become more of a true clean-up style of hitter. Certainly not impossible, it’s too risky to have faith that’ll occur in 2026.