Predicting the next move after the Luis Robert Jr. trade using recent NY Mets rumors

The New York Mets now have their center fielder. What’s next? Jon Heyman dropped some Mets rumors on Tuesday that probably tell us what could be coming next.

Now that the Mets have added a $20 million outfielder to the mix, it seems unlikely they’ll add a second. The plan seems to indicate prospect Carson Benge will profile more as a left fielder for the team in 2026, so how do the Mets approach this? They do it by acquiring a right-handed player who can lose playing time. That’s why Austin Hays is a practical next step.

An average defensive player who can play all positions, Hays is a masher of left-handed pitchers. Starting the year off as the Mets’ primary left fielder doesn’t completely solve their lineup needs. New York may be willing to take the lumps against right-handed pitchers to begin the year while awaiting the arrival of Benge for a more full-time gig.

Signing Austin Hays is the reasonable next step for the Mets to take

We can expect Hays to get in the $6-8 million range on a one-year deal. Known for hitting lefties well, he hit .319/.400/.549 against them last year. He was actually no pushover against righties. His slash line against them was .249/.286/.422. 

The trade off for the Mets would be to have a built-in platoon partner for the left-handed hitting Benge while protecting themselves against a potential situation where he’s further behind than they’d like. The conundrum was, and remains, the need for protection. You can’t guarantee he’s major league ready. You also don’t want to completely block him out from an opportunity. Hays does this.

You can have a preference that you would have preferred to see the Mets land a left fielder, skip Robert Jr., and instead make Benge your future center fielder in place of Tyrone Taylor. If so, you’re not wrong. This would have been my choice, too.

It does seem as if the Mets are unlikely to sign Cody Bellinger now which would have been the biggest addition they had left to make in free agency. It would be stunning if they traded for Jarren Duran because it blocks Benge entirely unless there’s a plan to utilize one of the outfielders regularly as a DH. Only Juan Soto would make sense for that. The Mets have already dismissed the idea.