The 5 Mets players most likely to get traded this offseason

Let the offseason begin. The New York Mets have a different direction to go in. Fortunately, it does feel as if the team will not pursue some sort of a rebuild or immediate retool; at least not right now.

With this in mind, the biggest player discussed in trades, Pete Alonso, should be removed as a likely trade chip. So should Jose Quintana. If the Mets aren’t emptying the cartridge, he needs to stay as well.

Several others aren’t nearly as safe. It’s these five Mets we should deem as the most likely to get traded this offseason—for better or worse.

1) Mark Vientos

Trade speculation about Mark Vientos seems to come up every offseason for the obvious reason: the Mets don’t really have much of a place for him. Formerly a third base prospect who has been downgraded to something more of a DH, Vientos has annihilated Triple-A pitching yet come up very short whenever he has had his shot in the big leagues.

Vientos shares a few things in common with Dominic Smith. While their style of play and strengths differ, it became difficult to find ways to get Smith into the lineup once Pete Alonso proved he was by far the superior first baseman. A position change for Vientos hasn’t truly happened at the major league level. He has only worked at the two corner infield positions. One is blocked. The other has him ranked third in terms of how trustworthy he is on defense.

Vientos has hit just .205/.253/.367 in his first 274 big league appearances. Power was present in the final weeks of the 2023 season. It shouldn’t be enough for him to be completely removed from the trade block.