The New York Mets spent the winter acting like a high-stakes poker player with a bottomless bankroll, and honestly, the rest of the NL East should be terrified. But this sudden influx of All-Star talent has turned the Port St. Lucie locker room into a game of musical chairs where the music has already stopped.
Jeff McNeil is gone to Oakland and Luisangel Acuna was shipped off to Chicago for Luis Robert Jr. in moves that were supposed to clear the air. They didn’t. There are still seven guys for four infield spots. It is a logistical nightmare masquerading as a “good problem to have.” You can’t tell me Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, or Mark Vientos are happy sitting on the bench watching Jorge Polanco take their hacks. They shouldn’t be.
Pirates Circling Like Vultures
The word out of Pittsburgh is that Ben Cherington is officially sniffing around the scrap heap. Andrew Fillipponi is reporting that the Pirates are in talks for either Baty or Vientos. It makes sense for them. Pittsburgh needs a pulse in their lineup to keep Paul Skenes from throwing eight shutout innings only to lose 1-0. The asking price is reportedly high, but frankly, Stearns holds all the cards here.
Baty finally looked like the guy we were promised last year. He put up a 111 wRC+ and swatted 18 home runs while actually looking like he belonged at third base. He’s the versatile piece Stearns loves. Vientos is the wild card. He fell off a cliff in 2025 with a 97 wRC+ after that monstrous 2024 campaign where he looked like a right-handed Pete Alonso. One of them could be used as trade bait. You don’t keep assets like this in the freezer until they get freezer burn.
Don’t Gift Wrap The Future
If the Mets move one of these kids, it better not be for a bucket of balls and a “player to be named later.” Fans would love to see high-leverage arms. The bullpen can still be a circus act some nights even with Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in town. Trading Vientos to a team like the Pirates needs to hurt them. He’s under team control through 2029 and that kind of power doesn’t grow on trees, even if his 2025 barrel rate dropped to 11.5 percent.
There is a world where Vientos settles in as the primary DH while Polanco spells guys across the diamond and focuses on first base. That’s the dream on paper. In reality, someone is going to be disgruntled by May. Baty has the higher floor because of the glove, but Vientos has the ceiling that wins you a Silver Slugger. Stearns needs to pick a horse and trade the other for a lights-out reliever before the plane leaves for Florida.
A lineup featuring Lindor, Bichette, and Semien is a gauntlet. It’s one of the most expensive infields in the history of the sport. If moving a promising young third baseman is the tax for a World Series trophy, you pay it every single time. Just make sure the return helps the Mets in October, not just in the press release.
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