Mets Focused On First Base, Pitching Upgrades

There are myriad holes for the Mets to try to fill this winter, but president of baseball operations David Stearns suggested Tuesday at the GM Meetings that second base isn’t one of them (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com and Chelsea Janes of SNY). Stearns noted that with Marcus Semien, Brett Baty and several prospects on the cusp of MLB readiness, they’re confident in their second base group. First base and the pitching staff are the primary areas of focus at this time. Semien and Baty are both coming off poor seasons. The former batted just .215/.280/.340 and saw his typically elite defensive grades plummet to below average in his age-35 season. He’s being paid $25MM per season through 2028, however, leaving the Mets little choice but to hope for a rebound. Baty, a former top prospect at third base, had a breakout 2025 showing while splitting time between multiple positions. His 2026 follow-up, however, saw him slash only .238/.311/.374. While neither player’s season-long numbers look like much, Baty did pull himself up with a big second half. Over his final 190 plate appearances — from July 1 onward — he hit .279/.337/.488. It’s a small sample that came with plenty of platooning, but that finish, coupled with his quality showing in ’25, likely gives the Mets some confidence that he can play a prominent role in 2027. New York also has young Jefferson Rojas, the headline prospect from the trade that sent Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor to the Cubs, nearing his big league debut. He’s widely considered a top-100 prospect and just turned in a .274/.338/.505 performance in 554 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A — all during his age-21 season. The Mets’ 2025 first-rounder, Mitch Voit, topped out at Double-A this season but had a nice showing in his own age-21 season. Émilien Pitre, acquired from the Rays in the Freddy Peralta swap, clobbered High-A and Double-A pitchers during his age-23 season this year but slowed down a bit in a small 20-game sample at Triple-A. All three can play second base, however, so it’s understandable if the Mets don’t feel compelled to pursue a veteran such as Brandon Lowe, Luis Arraez or Jazz Chisholm Jr. in free agency. First base is another story. Last year’s outside-the-box signing of Jorge Polanco — done with an eye toward him playing a lot of first base — was an abject flop. Polanco barely saw the field due to injury and wasn’t effective when he was out there. Thirty-one-year-old Jared Young, picked up in Dec. 2024 after a nice run in the Korea Baseball Organization, saw a career-high 342 big league plate appearances this past season and hit .266/.330/.429. That’s middle-of-the-road production, buoyed by plenty of platooning, but the Mets are confident he can be a part of the solution. Janes notes that Stearns didn’t rule out bringing in a left-handed bat to play first base on the regular but specifically mentioned Young as a potential option. A right-handed platoon pairing could make some sense, but that’s not an easy sell for a lot of free agents. Ty France is obviously going to look for an everyday role after a big 2026 season. Rebound candidates like Alec Bohm and Ryan Mountcastle presumably prefer to sign somewhere with more playing time than a short-side timeshare at first base. The trade market could have some options. Speculatively speaking, names like Jake Burger or Royce Lewis could fit the bill, but it’s a bit surprising if the Mets are indeed content to roll with Young and a platoon partner as the preferred setup out of the gate. One name not in the mix is Juan Soto. Stearns specifically told reporters today that Soto is focused on left field. On the pitching side of things, it’s already known that Tarik Skubal is a target. The Mets have a meeting set up with him next week. They’ll presumably be in on a variety of impact rotation and bullpen upgrades while also looking for fits to potential deal Kodai Senga elsewhere. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported this morning that multiple clubs have asked about Senga. That’s presumably in a buy-low capacity, of course. Senga’s 2025 season featured a dominant start followed by a catastrophic slump that resulted in him being optioned to Triple-A and spending the rest of the year in the minors. He looked sharp in his first two starts of the ’26 campaign before again falling into a calamitous run of poor results — an 11.48 ERA over his next 26 2/3 innings. Senga did finish with intriguing results as a reliever. Over his final 16 2/3 innings, he notched a 3.78 ERA with a 22-to-9 K/BB ratio, sitting just under 97 mph with his heater along the way. If the Mets are willing to pay down the majority of his contract, he could command interest as a low-cost bullpen flier for a budget-strapped team. Senga has a partial no-trade clause, but it’s possible he’d welcome a change of scenery. For now, Stearns told Mike Puma of the New York Post and others that the plan is for Senga to build back up as a starting pitcher whenever camp begins. That’s natural, as it’s far easier to build up as a starter and “ramp down” into a relief role than vice versa. Time will tell whether the Mets can find a taker and salvage some of the remaining money he’s owed, but it’s notable that Senga has at least piqued the interest of some other clubs as a rebound candidate.