Jon Heyman of Fan Rag recently said the market for infielder Eduardo Nunez is picking up, with the Mets interested in his services for their second base hole.

However, it made me wonder if Nunez would even be a significant upgrade for the team. For one, they already have a similar player to him on the team and that’s Asdrubal Cabrera.

For his career, Nunez is a .282/.320/.415 hitter in eight big league seasons while Cabrera has logged a slash line of .270/.331/.420 in 11 Major League seasons.

Nunez is a bit speedier than Cabrera, swiping 24 bases in 2017, but the latter overall hits for more power. In the field, they can both play multiple positions, but none either of them are especially great at.

Based on the recent news from Heyman highlighted above, I wanted to do a comparison of the two to see if bringing in Nunez is really even worth spending the money. Let’s start with the free agent.

Nunez did overall have a better year at the dish than Cabrera in 2017, hitting to a .313/.341/.460 clip with 12 homers and 58 RBI, but also had just a 101 wRC+ and .324 wOBA in 491 plate appearances. Like I mentioned earlier, he did also show off his wheels, swiping over 20 bags.

However, the Mets need strong defense up the middle and if Nunez were to play second full-time, it wouldn’t necessarily be an improvement. In 213.2 innings at the keystone this past year, Nunez had -4 defensive runs saved (DRS) and a -1.8 UZR. He also hasn’t played the position a ton throughout his big league career, recording just over 358 innings there since 2010.

At third base, he is passable, as he logged 0 DRS and a -1.9 UZR there over 447.2 innings in 2017, but that would mean Cabrera would be forced to play second full-time. In 274.1 innings at the keystone in 2017, he had -6 DRS and an 0.9 UZR. Cabrera has played second throughout his career, but primarily with the Cleveland Indians last decade.

Nunez has also spent time at shortstop and the outfield as recently as 2017, but has not thrived either place.

Now let’s talk about Cabrera.

At the dish in 2017, the 32-year-old launched 14 homers and drove in 59 RBI while hitting to a .280/.351/.434 clip in 540 plate appearances. He also had a 111 wRC+ and a .338 wOBA.

Also, as I mentioned, bringing in Nunez would force him to second base, where he is a worse defender than he would be at third.

At this point in his career, third base is probably the best spot for him, as he logged 1 DRS and a -2.6 UZR over 350.1 innings there in 2017. He has also played shortstop throughout his career, but with the Mets having Amed Rosario and Cabrera aging, chances are very slim he would spend much if any time there going forward, unless there was an injury.

While Nunez may have had the higher average, Cabrera bested him in homers, on-base percentage and had better advanced metrics. There numbers are essentially a wash side by side, but having both of them on the diamond wouldn’t give the Mets a huge boost offensively or defensively.

If they really want to sacrifice defense for offense, they might as well splurge and bring in Mike Moustakas or Todd Frazier. Heck, even bringing in Frazier would be a boost defensively at the hot corner.

If I’m the Mets, I’d look elsewhere than trying to pursue Nunez, who also seems to have several other teams in on him. Spend the resources elsewhere instead of engaging in a bidding war.