Grading the NY Mets pivot after losing out on Kyle Tucker

For a split second, there seemed to be an air of confidence in Queens that the New York Mets would come away with the offseason's top prize and land Kyle Tucker. There was talk of a whopping $50 million AAV offer, a show of confidence from owner Steve Cohen that went over many people's heads, and a general feeling around the league that this would be the tipping point in what had been, to that point, a frustrating winter.

Alas, Tucker signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for an even more massive $60 million annually, but failing to reel in the superstar outfielder kick-started David Stearns, who responded with a flurry of moves that changed the tenor of the offseason completely.

It wasn't long before Bo Bichette came on board, and shortly after that, Stearns pulled the trigger on the long-rumored Luis Robert Jr. trade. Freddy Peralta came next, and while he might be the biggest difference maker of them all, he's the one move that was likely independent of Tucker's decision.

So, how did the Mets truly fair by pivoting from Tucker to the duo of BIchette and Robert Jr.?

Give the Mets a B+ for pivoting to Bo Bichette and Luis Robert Jr. after losing Kyle Tucker

This is a little different than evaluating each move in a vacuum. For example, there's no other way to look at the Robert Jr. trade than as a massive success given what the Mets gave up to get him. With that said, the drop-off between Tucker and Robert Jr. is steep.

Thankfully, this isn't a one-to-one replacement. Bichette was clearly the second-best hitter available after Tucker, and he provides a lot of the same things that made Tucker attractive, such as a low strikeout rate (14.5% for Bichette in 2025, 14.7% for Tucker), a better batting average, and is even younger than the former Chicago Cubs star.

Robert Jr. is the true wild card. If he bounces back to his 2023 form, the Mets will have come out ahead, nabbing two stars instead of one and getting the most talented possible replacements once Tucker went elsewhere.

However, his health is a question mark, and he's been in a two-year funk, so there's a lot of risk. The Mets get docked here, but not by much.

The truth of the matter is, the impact options were limited at this point. The other top free agents (at the time) would have been Cody Bellinger and Eugenio Suarez. Those are some big names, but Steamer projections peg Bellinger at 2.7 fWAR and Suarez at 2.3 fWAR for a total of 5, while Bichette is projected to produce 3.9 fWAR with Robert Jr. chipping in 1.6 fWAR, totaling 5.5 fWAR as a duo.

With that, it becomes pretty clear that these were the best two possible players to fill the biggest lineup holes while coming in close to what the Dodgers paid for Tucker alone. Bichette and Robert Jr. will cost just $2 million more on an annual basis than Tucker will cost the Dodgers on his own.

The only thing that prevents this from being an "A" is that there was a nuclear option on the table. The Mets were still eyeing Bellinger after landing Bichette, and even with Robert Jr. in the fold, there could have been a fit for the Yankees star.

While Carson Benge will make his debut at some point in 2026, the Mets could have had more patience with him after he slashed .178/.272/.311 in 29 games at Syracuse last season. When Benge truly proved he was ready, Bellinger could have slid to first base and pushed Jorge Polanco to DH, while also serving as a backup option in center should Robert Jr. falter or get hurt.

Was that realistic? Not really. Was it possible? Absolutely. Going overboard in that way would've made this a solid A+. As it stands, there are some concerns, mostly on the Robert Jr. side of things, but the Mets made out about as well as one could have expected after losing out on the top player available.