3 former Mets players the team can trade for to help ease the Starling Marte injury news

Grab a calendar. Flip to a random date. You could just as easily predict when Starling Marte will play his next game for the New York Mets. The team has used a lot of Tyrone Taylor, a little less Jeff McNeil, and even sprinkles of DJ Stewart in right field during his absence. Hey, Ben Gamel has even been put to use at times.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of an end to his injury. Carlos Mendoza spoke on Sunday about the health status of his right fielder. It wasn’t promising.

How badly do the Mets actually need a right fielder? A platoon of Taylor and McNeil would work weirdly as both have reverse splits this season with Taylor batting .188 and McNeil way up at .244 against southpaws. Their other two options, Stewart and Gamel, are hitting left-handed so a right-handed bat who can mash lefties is yet again something this team needs to consider bringing in. It was a role we thought Taylor would exceed at, but he has been better against right-handed pitchers this year.

Conveniently, three of the most realistic options for the Mets are reunion candidates. Not all should cost a whole bunch either.

1) Kevin Pillar

There are a couple of players on the Los Angeles Angels roster to look at. One fitting this motif is Kevin Pillar. A member of the 2021 Mets, he has had stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago White Sox, before signing with the Angels earlier this season after getting released.

Pillar has been pretty awesome and should come at some cost because of his ability to play center field. The Mets would need him for right field where he would probably be more useful.

The offensive output includes a .288/.340/.482 slash line and 6 home runs in 150 plate appearances. Let’s not even look at what he did for the White Sox. This is a family-friendly place.

Exclusively against left-handed pitchers, Pillar owns a ridiculous .359/.406/.625 slash line. He has homered 3 times in 69 chances and has another 6 doubles. It’s twice as many as he has against right-handed pitchers.

Pillar is the best realistic rental option out there for the Mets in terms of an outfielder who can hit well against lefties. Before we go selling something, let’s consider two others who donned a Mets uniform in the recent past.

2) Mark Canha

Mark Canha isn’t getting talked about much as a trade candidate and there’s a good reason. He has the remainder of $11.5 million owed to him. In a year where he’s batting only .228/.334/.341 with 6 home runs in 341 plate appearances, it’s easy to dismiss him.

A well-liked member of the Mets more for his personality than his actual play on the field (let’s not rewrite history, a lot of people wanted him replaced often), one thing he has done well this season is clobber left-handed pitching. A .286/.403/.476 slash line in 77 plate appearances has been the result.

Canha has actually played mostly first base for the Detroit Tigers this season with about another third at the DH spot and the remainder of his time split between both corner outfield spots. A declining defender for sure, this might be something to negate him from the conversation entirely.

It wouldn’t cost any prospect capital to obtain him. Do we dare make a move? There is one more right-handed hitting outfielder to look at.