Three things wrong with ESPN’s NY Mets-Red Sox trade proposal

We’re probably going to see at least one major trade in MLB before Opening Day. Do the New York Mets get involved?

Mets rumors have been reawakened in recent days with a lot of the chatter being about a potential deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh is interested in Brett Baty or Mark Vientos. The obvious return would be some combination of pitching help for the Mets.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield went in a different direction with his recent story about different spring training trade ideas. Revisiting the speculation about a Mets-Red Sox deal, he’s swapping Baty for Wilyer Abreu. What’s so bad about this? Well, a couple of things.

Three reasons why we won’t see this Mets-Red Sox trade happen

1) The Mets lose their best backup plan at four positions if they trade Brett Baty

Baty is a left field backup plan to start the year in case Carson Benge isn’t deemed worthy of making the Opening Day roster. If he does, the Mets have a surplus of hitters. It’s not excessive, though. Baty can just as easily slot in for regular time at first base and DH as well as provide the Mets with some sporadic outings in left field. He might even be a candidate to play some regular third base when Bo Bichette needs a half-day. He’ll no doubt be the top choice during any duration where Bichette is injured.

Baty’s value is in his versaility. The Mets, now minus Jeff McNeil, don’t have anyone who compares. Ronny Mauricio is a budding major leaguer who can do some of the same things but he has yet to put together enough consistent results in the majors to come close to matching what Baty’s ready to offer in 2026.

2) Wilyer Abreu negates Carson Benge altogether

If you go out and add Abreu to the roster, there’s no longer any need for Benge at all. It pushes him down the road further. The Mets aren’t calling up Benge to sit on the bench. He doesn’t have a place anywhere in 2026 outside of replacing an injured player or taking away some at-bats when Luis Robert Jr. goes through a slump.

Abreu would have been a fantastic addition for the Mets prior to them landing Robert. He has won two Gold Gloves in right field. Adding him pushes Juan Soto into left field where he might perform better thanks to the Citi Field dimensions. Suddenly, a logjam is created for the Mets in the outfield with one more body brought in. They aren’t going to have Soto DH regularly enough to justify this kind of move. The Mets could use another outfielder. They just don’t need it to be an everyday player like Abreu.

3) The Red Sox get the raw end of this trade by too wide of a margin

Both players hit left-handed and are coming off of somewhat similar seasons. Abreu, however, is the far better player in just about every way possible. It doesn’t matter if the Red Sox have a hole at third base or not. Trading away Abreu for an inferior player would be a mistake on their part.

Abreu’s 2025 season might’ve been his weakest offensively and it still outperformed Baty in his best year. He had more home runs and RBI in fewer plate appearances. Each is controlled through the 2029 season so there isn’t even a tie-breaker there to make any suggestion that Boston can benefit. The Red Sox have a huge question at third base with Alex Bregman departing. Baty for Abreu just isn’t the right kind of match for either club; not because we wouldn’t make the trade but because it throws more chaos into the system David Stearns has already created.