On one hand, there’s no shot to land Kris Bryant, on the other, the Mets absolutely will sign him

Kris Bryant and the New York Mets have been a wonderful potential pairing for quite some time. The Mets have had a need at third base and wouldn’t you know, it’s where Bryant has called home for the majority of his career.

The addition of Eduardo Escobar to the roster this offseason has made the match a little less likely. However, with Escobar’s ability to play second base, Bryant isn’t completely off the radar.

I think a lot of us have been accustomed to saying the Mets don’t have a shot at a particular player. It has been ingrained in our consciousness. Certain high-profile ballplayers, as much as they would make sense for the team, aren’t reasonable enough additions for the club to ever make. This all changed with the Max Scherzer signing. Suddenly, anything is possible.

Instinct says Kris Bryant won’t come to the Mets yet recent history says he still might

Anybody who predicted the Mets would sign Scherzer needs to share their optimism with the rest of the world. Nothing seemed to indicate this was ever a possibility. Even with Steve Cohen’s big fat wallet, Scherzer didn’t seem like a New York guy. All of the stories suggested he was more eager to stay on the West Coast than to head back east where he spent most of his big league career.

That narrative has found its way into the trash bin. Scherzer signed with the Mets anyway and two things we never thought would happen did: a player chose Queens and the owner of the team was willing to pay whatever it took to make it happen.

The need for Bryant has since lessened even beyond just the addition of Escobar. All three outfield positions have now been filled. With two of their top ten prospects listed as third basemen, adding another guy at the position long term in free agency isn’t the most necessary action to take.

When it comes to the Mets, saying “that’ll never happen” came easily. The Wilpons engrained the thought into our heads for far too many years. It was easy to dismiss a top free agent from every landing with the team. Money was an issue.

Not anymore, apparently.

I won’t say Bryant isn’t coming to the Mets. On one hand, I don’t believe he will. There are too many other teams who need him. On the other, it’s the most aggressive move the Mets can make to ensure they head into 2022 as a clear-cut favorite.