4 best designated hitter options for the Mets to add at the trade deadline

New York Mets trade rumors are emerging often, now that the baseball season has hit the halfway mark in the 2022 season. The Mets currently sit in first place in the division; however, the Atlanta Braves, thanks to an excellent June that saw the team go 21-6, are right on their heels.

It stands to reason, then, that the Mets cannot afford to take their foot off the gas pedal. Therefore, as the Trade Deadline gets closer, the Mets need to assess how they could improve their team.

One position where they could seek an upgrade is designated hitter. Their current primary designated hitters are J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith. Although both have had their moments, neither of them has managed to be consistent at the position. Smith is batting .216 with zero home runs and an OPS+ of 77, well below the league average. Davis has fared better, hitting .248 with 3 home runs and 19 RBI with an OPS+ of 103 through July 10th.

NY Mets trade rumors: DH trade candidate C.J. Cron

The good news for the Mets is that there are several designated hitter options available to them if they choose to seek an upgrade at the position. This article ranks the top four potential Trade Deadline targets for the Mets and explains why each player makes sense (or doesn’t make sense).

The first candidate that could be a good fit for the Mets is Colorado Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron. The burly first baseman has bounced around in his career, playing for the Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Detroit Tigers in addition to the Rockies.

Cron would be best deployed against left-handed hitters, where he has always found success against. His career average is approximately 22 points higher against left-handed pitchers than righties, and his OPS against southpaws is hovering around .850.

Cron has also performed well at Citi Field during his career. Because the Mets will play about half of their games at Citi Field over the course of the year, it is an added benefit that they acquire a hitter who has had career success in their ballpark. Cron has a career batting line of .276/.383/.517 at Citi Field, including two home runs.

The reason for concern regarding Cron is whether he has been susceptible to the “Coors Field” effect. As a general rule, hitters usually perform better than usual in Denver because of the elevation the stadium is at. As a result, most offensive metrics at Coors field are inflated.

Consider Cron’s 2021 numbers. He hit approximately 100 points lower in batting average on the road than he did at home, and most of his home runs last year also came at home. This phenomenon is also the case this year.

His career numbers also reveal the Coors Field effect: Cron holds a career slash line of .265/.326/.483. With the Rockies, however, Cron’s numbers jumped dramatically. Cron has a slash line of .287/.365/.538 in his two seasons with Colorado.

Cron signed a two-year deal with the Rockies last offseason for $14.5 million, so if the Mets were to trade for him, they would be on the hook for Cron’s 2023 salary in his age-33 season. This also makes Cron more valuable to the Rockies, as they can use that remaining year as leverage during trade negotiations.

Considering the fact that Cron is not a free agent after this year, the Rockies do not necessarily need to trade him at the deadline. As a result, it makes a trade slightly more unlikely, since the Rockies will be in a position where they can sit on a deal if they do not like the return offers they receive from interested clubs. But it is no surprise that he has appeared in Mets trade rumors, given that he profiles as a power-hitting designated hitter, which is exactly what the team needs.

NY Mets trade rumors: DH trade candidate Nelson Cruz

The third designated hitter candidate that has been mentioned in Mets trade rumors comes from one of the Mets biggest rivals: the Washington Nationals. Slugger Nelson Cruz may be in his forties, and he may have gotten off to a slow start, but he is still hitting for power, delivering the Nationals many extra-base hits thus far this season.

Last offseason, Cruz signed a 1-year deal with the Nationals, which was surprising, given that the team was not expected to contend. Because that reality has settled in, the Nationals should be in full-sale mode as the Trade Deadline approaches, and there is no need for a 42-year-old slugger on a team that is going nowhere in 2022.

Cruz makes a lot of sense for the Mets. He offers a more powerful bat than Davis and Smith. He would easily slot in as the team’s designated hitter and would be best deployed hitting behind Pete Alonso, which would give Alonso protection and give him good pitches to hit.

Cruz would also be a relatively inexpensive option. Because of Cruz’s advanced age, and the fact that he is beginning to show signs of decline, the Mets would be able to retain all of their highly valued prospects in any potential deal for Cruz.

However, he is 42 years old. When Cruz was traded to the Rays last year from Minnesota, he did not perform well during the stretch run. There is a risk that the same occurrence happens with them. What is concerning about Cruz is that his bat speed has diminished, which means more fastballs are zipping by him before he can catch up to them. This is usually a tell-tale sign for a slugger in decline.

Unlike some of the hitters described in this article, Cruz is also the most limited. At this stage in his career, Cruz can only serve as the designated hitter. He has only spent one game at first base in his career, and his days roaming the outfield have been extinct for years.

However, Cruz represents a lower cost option to the final designated hitter on this list, who also makes a lot of sense for the Mets.

NY Mets trade rumors: DH trade candidate Josh Bell

Finally, we get to the last designated hitter candidate who has appeared in Mets trade rumors, and it is another Washington National. Josh Bell, who has admirably served as the Nationals first baseman for the past couple years, is batting .308/.389/.497 with an OPS+ of 156. He currently has 12 home runs and 47 RBI on the season through 86 games.

Josh Bell makes sense for the Mets because he is a much more powerful left-handed hitter than Smith, and therefore would be projected to have the biggest impact down the stretch. Bell is also capable of hitting right-handed as well, which makes him valuable to the Nationals because of his switch-hitting ability. Whereas Davis and Smith are primarily deployed depending on the pitching matchup, the Mets would not have to be concerned about that as much with Bell.

The Nationals have no reason to hang onto Bell. Despite Bell’s numbers, the Nationals are a bad team, and they currently have the worst record in the National League. They will have the desire to make a deal, knowing that the alternative is that they would lose him for nothing in the offseason.

The downside, though, is because Bell is having a career year, he is also probably going to be the most expensive slugger to acquire out of the four trade candidates mentioned in this article. It is also important to note that Bell is 29 years old and will be a free agent at the end of the year. For a two-month rental, any team acquiring him is going to have to be willing to part with valuable prospects. It’s possible that the Mets may not want to do that, considering that their team is already pretty good and they value their organizational depth.

The other complication that comes with Bell is whether the Nationals would be amenable to an intradivision trade. As a general competitive principle, most teams do not like to trade within their division, knowing the risk that a potential trade would carry: there’s always the possibility that the traded player could come back to haunt his previous team, especially since divisional matchups are frequent.

Either way, the Mets should still call the Nationals to see if they can work something out. Smith and Davis, while not terrible hitters, have not gotten the job done, and if an upgrade can be had, the Mets need to pursue it because they are a team with World Series aspirations.