Predicting the fates of the team’s top 3 winter trade candidates

Mar 24, 2022; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets left fielder J.D. Davis (28) watches from
Mar 24, 2022; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets left fielder J.D. Davis (28) watches from / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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What does the crystal ball say for the top three New York Mets trade candidates from this past winter? You’ve seen the names J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil, and Dominic Smith lumped together often. The Mets somehow didn’t trade any of the three.

That doesn’t mean they will remain with the franchise throughout the length of their contract. Most players are eventually traded and those who aren’t will depart in free agency.

For these three, I predict very different fates.

The Mets will trade J.D. Davis next winter in a package for a starting pitcher

J.D. Davis has seemed like a trade candidate since the moment he started playing well for the Mets. First brought over as a depth piece, he caught all over our attention when he started to play regularly for the 2019 team. Eventually earning a lot of starts in left field, he has bounced between there and third base over the last several years.

A poor defender, the addition of the DH has given the Mets one more way to use Davis. However, he is not expected to get 162 starts in this offensive-exclusive spot in the order. Davis will probably watch a lot of games from the bench and give them a little more depth this year. He’ll be a midseason trade candidate at the deadline but unless the team is tanking—which I don’t predict they will be—he should remain in that role throughout the 2022 campaign.

Next winter will be different. The Mets, in need of starting pitching once again, will shop him around. This time, with lockout-free offseason, they find a match.

Davis will be traded in a package deal somewhere for a starting pitcher. A guy like Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds will be the target. The Mets will look to get some youth onto the roster and hope to sign the new acquisition to an extension. My crystal ball is a little murky so I can’t tell you who it will actually be that the Mets acquire. What I can reveal, thanks to these mystical powers of taking my best guess, Davis’ last run with the Mets is in 2022.