5 moves the NY Mets should immediately make if they miss on signing Kyle Tucker

3) Make a trade with the Padres that involves David Peterson for Jeremiah Estrada

How have the Mets and San Diego Padres not made a trade yet? At this point, we’ve added our ace, filled left field, and we’re feeling a little better about the team. What once felt like a potential blockbuster with San Diego morphs into a lesser deal that involves David Peterson going to Southern California and reliever Jeremiah Estrada coming to Queens.

Cash and other players will need to get involved, too. Ramon Laureano to the Mets as some outfield depth? Mark Vientos to give the Padres a young bat? Another Padres reliever?

The possibilities are pretty endless when it comes to the Mets and Padres with a trade because each has what the other could use. Because of the way these other moves (and another we’ll get to shortly) add payroll to the Mets roster, there isn’t much room to take on a large salary.

Something along the lines of Peterson and Vientos for Estrada and Laureano isn’t so terrible if the Mets are ready to move on from Vientos. They do need to clear a starting pitching spot, though. Peterson’s late crash and impending free agency should have him as a reasonable option to deal. When it comes to Kodai Senga, there’s as much a chance the Mets regret trading him away as there is a reward to keep him.

In either case, some sort of trade to address the bullpen and subtract from the rotation needs to take place. The easiest is to strike a deal with the Padres.