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

4) Acquire Christian Walker from the Astros in a salary dump deal

Whether Mark Vientos remains or not, Christian Walker would be a nice addition for the Mets who could definitely benefit from a right-handed hitting first baseman on the roster. They’d be buying low on a guy who was a multi-time Gold Glove winner that just didn’t work out so well with the Houston Astros last season.

An even $20 million spread out over the next two seasons isn’t so bad for Walker. Despite the down year, he still hit 27 home runs and drove in 88. The Mets could always keep Vientos around, but he becomes increasingly less necessary with Walker around. Maybe already gone in the trade with the Red Sox for Duran or with the Padres in some form, there aren’t too many scenarios that exist where Vientos can remain with the Mets if they don’t land Tucker.

On the contrary, removing Vientos from the trade block feels more viable if the Mets do land Tucker. He’s cheap and still a young enough player who could regain his 2024 magic.

Walker doesn’t feel quite as necessary as some of the other names on this list. However, a combination of Jorge Polanco and Vientos regularly at first base seems to go against the idea of run prevention. It would probably require the Astros to eat a part of Walker’s contract for the Mets to add him. Not much of a hint that this is something they will do, Walker in a contract swap with the Mets once seemed more viable with players like Sean Manaea and maybe even Kodai Senga being a potential match. This no longer seems possible with the Astros filling their rotation up in other ways.