When all is said and done, it would be surprising if the Mets didn’t have a new second baseman on Opening Day.
Marc Carig of Newsday reports the Mets have had discussions with the Detroit Tigers about a trade involving Ian Kinsler as well as with the Cleveland Indians about Jason Kipnis.
He also adds that the team may also use the Winter Meetings to explore a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for Josh Harrison.
Harrison is a two-time All-Star, including a trip to the Mid-Summer Classic this past season. With the Bucs in 2017, he appeared in 128 games and hit to a .272/.339/.432 clip with 16 homers and 47 RBI.
However, he has only managed to hit above a 100 wRC+ clip in just two of his seven big league seasons.
Kinsler, 35, was first mentioned as a trade target for the Mets last month. He had an option on his contract that vested when he hit 600 plate appearances and is set to take home an $11 million payday in 2018.
Carig said that the most dialogue the Mets have had is with the Tigers about Kinsler, but there is skepticism a deal gets done there.
This past year, Kinsler managed to hit just .236/.313/.412 with a 91 wRC+ and .313 wOBA, but still clubbed 22 long balls and drove in 52 runs in 613 plate appearances.
As for Kipnis, 2017 wasn’t his sharpest, as the second baseman appeared in just 90 games and hit to a .232/.291/.414 clip in 373 plate appearances.
As a result of this, the Cleveland Indians could choose to shop Kipnis this offseason. Joel Sherman of the New York Post believes the Mets could be interested in his services.
“He has either two years at $30.5 million or (if his 2020 option is picked up) three years at $44.5 million,” Sherman said in his column. “Cleveland is a win-now team, yet still always has to worry about what is now a larger payroll than ever before. One NL executive said he thought the Indians were very open to moving Kipnis and might even eat dollars to do so.
“The Mets do not have a ton of financial wiggle room or trade commodities. Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo will probably intrigue analytic-leaning teams that see mostly untapped upside potential there if their stuff is deployed in a different way. Lugo, though, has a chronic elbow issue that lowers his trade value.”
For his career, he is a .268/.340/.422 hitter in 3,737 plate appearances with 88 long balls and 389 RBI. In his last full season in 2016, he also had a 116 wRC+ and a .347 wOBA.
In 620.0 innings at the keystone in 2017, the 30-year old Kipnis had seven errors with -2 defensive runs saved and a -1.5 UZR. However, the year prior his advanced metrics were better, with 4 DRS and a 7.3 UZR in 1309.0 innings.
