A lot of speculation has linked Tucker to the Mets this offseason, and it’s not hard to see why. According to Grid sourceSteve Cohen’s club had a payroll of $346 million, $336 million and $340 million in 2023, ’24 and ’25, respectively. Currently, their projected payroll for 2026 is just $294 million. That means president of baseball operations David Stearns still has at least $40 million left to spend. He has already made some additions, namely the signing Jorge Polanco, Devin WilliamsAnd Lucas Weaverand act for Marcus Semien. However, considering all the players the Mets have lost or traded away, including Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, Brandon NimmoAnd Jeff McNeiland considering they missed the playoffs in such heartbreaking fashion last September, Stearns still has more work to do. He certainly didn’t sign Juan Soto to a record contract last season, only to be sitting on his hands a year later.
If Stearns wants to make a big impact, there’s no better way to do it than by signing the best free agent on the market. The Mets are reportedly hesitant to sign a starting pitcher to a long-term contract this winter. Additionally, Heyman notes that Tucker’s likely high asking price is the reason Cody Bellinger remains their favorite target in the outfield. That said, it would be foolish to leave the Mets out of the Tucker sweepstakes of all teams for financial reasons. They could give him the 11-year, $400 million contract that MLBTR projected at the start of the offseason ($36.4 million AAV), and their salary would still be lower than the last three seasons.
Additionally, the Mets have a clear opening for Tucker in their lineup after Nimmo’s retirement. At this point, RosterResource has done just that Carson Benge noted as New York’s starting left fielder. Benge is a consensus top-100 prospect, and it’s clear how highly the Mets rate him. He is believed to be virtually untouchable in trade talks this winter, and Stearns has previously suggested he will get a chance to make the big league roster during spring training. Yet Benge is only 22 and completely unproven at the MLB level. It’s hard to imagine a team with World Series aspirations would let that stand in the way of signing a proven star like Tucker — especially since the Mets are already connected to Bellinger. Until then, the Mets are believed to prefer adding a right-handed bat to their lineup, but their interest in the left-handed Bellinger suggests that handedness won’t be a dealbreaker. Benge, for what it’s worth, also hits from the left side. Besides, Tucker’s career numbers against left-handed pitching (133 wRC+, .842 OPS) are almost as impressive as his numbers with the platoon advantage (141 wRC+, .877 OPS). There’s no good reason why his left-handedness would stand in the way of a deal.
In November, MLBTR’s Steve Adams called the Mets a “likely candidate” for Tucker’s services. Two weeks ago, nearly 20,000 MLBTR readers voted on where they thought Tucker would sign, and the Mets received the third-most support (15.23%), just ahead of the Yankees (10.09%) and behind only the Blue Jays (40.22%) and Dodgers (15.55%). It came as no surprise when Heyman confirmed Thursday afternoon that the Mets have indeed expressed at least some interest. They join the Yankees, Blue Jays and Orioles as teams with reported interest in the star outfielder, although Baltimore was linked to him before signing Alonso. Other teams that could be a good fit are the Dodgers and Giants; Heyman notes that “all the major market teams” have signed on with Tucker, though the Yankees and Mets are the only ones he mentions by name.
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