The roster retool for the New York Mets is reportedly far from over as David Stearns works to put together a strong roster for next season.
New York has already seen two of its top players, Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz, depart in free agency, and it also traded Brandon Nimmo to Texas. On Monday afternoon, a new report revealed the organization is willing to part ways with three infielders who don’t have a home on the roster.
“The Mets are open to moving infielders Ronny Mauricio, Luisangel Acuña and Mark Vientos, league sources said,” insider Will Sammon wrote for The Athletic. “Those three players look redundant on the Mets’ roster. New York appears willing to give Brett Baty every chance to stick at third base after a solid defensive season and .748 OPS added up to a 2.3 fWAR. After adding Semien and Polanco to the infield mix, at second base and first base, respectively, there’s only so much time to go around.”
Given this new information about Baty, it makes sense that the team wants to move on from these players. Stearns may prefer to keep one of them as a backup, but he won’t want all three to stick around. This report comes after the team reportedly agreed to a deal with Jorge Polanco, who is expected to be the primary first baseman next season.
Vientos would likely provide the largest return out of any infielder mentioned simply due to the fact that he has the most impactful bat. However, the Mets would still need to find an organization that is willing to take him in.
This trio now makes four infielders that New York is reportedly trying to part ways with, as Jeff McNeil appears very likely to be traded. In an ideal world, the Mets would love to package one of the three mentioned above with McNeil, but finding a team to take two of them may be difficult to do.
Stearns now has another item on his list of tasks this winter as Mets fans are adding pressure to build a World Series contender.
More MLB: Mets Urged to Trade David Peterson to Padres for Veteran Outfielder
