Mets unlikely to trade for Willson Contreras

The latest New York Mets trade rumors according to Jon Heyman remove one of the deadline’s hottest targets from the radar of Steve Cohen’s ball club. Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, who would give the Mets the kind of offense they haven’t gotten out of the catcher spot for years, will apparently be too overpriced for the team to pursue.

Mets fans should celebrate. As much as Contreras would boost the offense, changing catchers mid-year often asks for trouble.

The latest Mets trade rumors say Willson Contreras isn’t coming to Flushing

What’s more, the Mets already have two catchers without minor league options. James McCann is working his way back into the lineup and Tomas Nido has built himself up as a pretty good second-string backstop. While they provide little at the plate, they are exceptional behind it.

Moving on from Contreras and the expected high asking price is a wise move for Billy Eppler and his team. They can instead focus on other areas where they Mets need improvements. Namely, what can they do for the starting rotation until they are back to full strength, which bullpen pieces are out there, and what other bats could they add?

The Mets have been careful about not adding too many players at any particular position like the last regime seemed to do far too often. Instead, the Mets had a mission to add flexible players in the offseason. Starling Marte and Mark Canha can play any of the outfield positions. Eduardo Escobar has experience all over the infield.

If there are any future Mets trade rumors involving the Cubs, there is a whole bullpen and another bat we could possibly see mentioned.

Cubs closer David Robertson would be a nice right-handed addition to the bullpen and a guy who can be trusted if Edwin Diaz was to be unavailable for whatever reason. They have a couple of other arms that might fit in nicely with the Mets and some starting pitchers capable of giving them some depth. For the record, Marcus Stroman is not one of them.

Mets trade rumors focused on Ian Happ would be nice to see. A left fielder these days, he can also play the other two outfield positions and even several spots on the infield. If the Mets are unwilling to pay the high asking price for Contreras, however, Happ might also be out of their reach.