David Stearns just opened up the door for an exciting NY Mets spring training battle

The GM meetings aren’t nearly as exciting as the Winter Meetings in December. This week, the GMs and POBOs got together to talk amongst each other and maybe work out a few plans for the coming weeks. How much work actually gets done is up for debate. However, we did get to hear a little bit from David Stearns on what his plans for the New York Mets look like.

In typical Stearns fashion, he played his cards close to the vest. One thing did come out. Stearns confirmed the team’s center field plans for next year.

Okay, that’s significant. Only a handful of games in Triple-A and a .178 batting average in Syracuse and already the Mets are open to the idea of Carson Benge winning a job next spring. Although Stearns tends to talk in riddles at times, being so open about this and clearly defining Benge as a candidate to make the Opening Day roster is huge and confirms a lot of what they will do this coming offseason.

If Carson Benge is seriously going to compete for a center field job next year, we can scratch off a couple of targets for the Mets

Center field has been a difficult position to figure out for the Mets. It’s not an uncommon problem. There aren’t a whole lot of talented players out there at the position who can hit and field. Often, you need to punt one of those abilities.

With Benge being given a shot to make the team, something Stearns shouldn’t be saying if he’s not willing to truly allow it to happen, we can probably delete every mock trade for Luis Robert Jr. we had saved in a word document. There won’t be a Harrison Bader reunion. The Mets won’t dare to do anything more than have a backup plan of Tyrone Taylor and maybe another part-timer or some regular appearances from Jeff McNeil (if he’s not traded) and Brandon Nimmo.

In Stearns’ Mets tenure, we’ve already seen Bader lose the starting job to Taylor, a Jose Siri injury and DFA, and a failed swap for Cedric Mullins. Stearns has done the same thing over and over again with inferior players at the position. It’s hard to almost blame him. A solution hasn’t been clear cut with the Chicago White Sox foolishly asking too much for Robert. They’re so going to lose him for nothing, aren’t they?

Benge winning a center field job out of camp would be ideal as long as he does indeed play well. The Mets would be wise to add some depth within the organization at the position. However, we can safely assume the big splash isn’t coming.