3) Sign Carlos Santana
If the Mets decide to go a lower-cost route, there is no better candidate than 38-year-old veteran Carlos Santana. 2024 represented the Dominican's fifteen season in MLB where he has achieved an All-Star Game selection, a Silver Slugger Award, and this season a Gold Glove Award.
Santana is a hitter with knowledge of the strike zone who in her MLB career has accumulated 324 home runs with 1,082 RBIs, 1,058 runs, and 1,278 walks. In this area, Santana has managed to finish in the top 10 in walks in the major leagues in twelve of his fifteen seasons on the major circuit.
In 2024, Santana played 150 games in which he posted a line of .238/.328/.420/.748 with 23 home runs, 71 RBIs, and 63 runs. The veteran managed to increase hard-hit contact compared to 2023 and decreased his percentage of hits connected by ground ball by more than 5 percentage points.
About MLB first basemen, Santana was number 13 overall in offensive production measured through wRC+ surpassing hitters like Luis Arraez, Paul Goldschmidt, and Vinnie Pasquantino. Likewise, Santana was 13th in win probability added, a statistic that seeks to help explain the impact of a specific player or event on the outcome of a game, with 0.54, meaning that Santana increased the chance of winning by 54% the Twins in 2024, surpassing players like Bryce Harper, Christian Walker, and Josh Naylor.