Batting ninth Luis Robert Jr., CF
Look, the sun is rising and that place between sleep and awake is creeping in. At least it’s not Tyrone Taylor, right? In this final spot in the lineup, the Mets pull off one more addition and have Luis Robert Jr. playing center field to begin the 2026 campaign. It’s not completely permanent as he’ll be holding a spot for Carson Benge to eventually arrive.
Robert is coming off of two straight lackluster seasons with similar numbers. Overall, he has played 210 games and hit .223/.288/.372 with 28 home runs. An above-average fielder in many of his seasons, he went from 1 OAA in 2024 back to 7 in 2025. It was the second highest total of his career, made more impressive because of this being an accumulative stat and Robert missing quite a bit of time.
We’d love to get our greasy mitts on Robert via free agency after the Chicago White Sox choose not to pick up his 2026 option. Hey, we’re not quite awake yet. We’ll, truthfully, take him on via acceptable trade but would always prefer just to throw some money at him.
The $20 million owed to him next season is a lot and the White Sox would likely need to pay a portion of it, especially if they want prospects of quality in return. He may actually be an oddly good match for the Mets considering their center field status with Benge. If he were to hypothetically get hurt after around two months, Benge might be fully prepared to step in. This dream doesn’t include any injuries, but maybe the center field situation develops into a platoon with the left-handed hitting Benge earning regular at-bats against righties.
