5 NY Mets trades and free agent signings to keep the payroll at $320 million or less

4) Trade the other of Kodai Senga and David Peterson for center field and pitching depth

Originally this was all about Kodai Senga going to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a deal for Alek Thomas+ but their re-signing of Merrill Kelly made things a little crowded there. It’s not a complete match. Other teams may be a better fit for either pitcher whom we haven’t already dealt away in the Padres deal. Since we declared it to be Peterson, we need to find a new home for Senga. After all, he’s the one who has always seemed to appear in trade rumors more than anyone else.

Finding a match is complicated in many ways. One could argue the upside is too impressive to give up on and teams with a chance to take him away should jump at it. On the contrary, the frustration of not knowing how available he will be healthwise should have the Mets shipping him out for anything a team is willing to give back. Something along the lines of an Alek Thomas-type player (not that I’m saying it should be him) and some youngish pitching depth of lesser ability but intrigue fits.

The Baltimore Orioles are a team that aggressively went out and traded for Tampa Bay Rays starter Shane Baz. They have way too many young position players than they can count. For them, we can make an exception and take center field depth and a second position player. The real goal is to clear the roster space for the additions of Peralta and Pivetta while shedding salary. Let’s say the Mets add one league minimum contract and one minor leaguer in the trade. This saves them about $14 million on payroll next year.

Now at a projected salary of around $302.5 million or so, the Mets have one major position to fill: first base.