Over the past few weeks, it’s become more and more clear that next to pitching one of the biggest needs for the New York Mets ahead of the trading deadline is going to be an upgrade at designated hitter.
The duo of Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis has a combined .621 OPS and just one home run to this point in the season. The two of them just are not getting it done.
General Manager Billy Eppler and company seem to be aware of that. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Mets are among teams that have checked in on Baltimore Orioles slugger Trey Mancini.
The Notre Dame product is having another fine season with the bat. Over 68 games, he’s hitting .280 and has 14 doubles, a triple, seven home runs, and a .777 OPS. He’s seen time at first base, DH, and both corner outfield spots.
While the results haven’t quite been there in the power department with the new dimensions at Camden Yards, Mancini has been hitting the ball extremely hard this season. If he played all his games at Citi Field this year, he’d have ten more long balls added to his total, which would rank him second amongst Mets.
Mancini would be a really solid addition to the middle of this Mets lineup. He’s established himself as a tremendous power threat since his first full season back in 2017. Mancini has topped 20 homers in four of his six big league seasons, one of which was a 35-homer campaign back in 2019.
Additionally, Mancini would be a great addition to this club off the field as well. He and Buck Showalter are very familiar with each other from their time together in Baltimore, and Mancini is regarded by many as one of the great guys in baseball.
Mancini is set to hit free agency at the end of the season so it likely wouldn’t cost the Mets too much to reel him in from the rebuilding O’s.
On top of Mancini, Heyman also mentions Josh Bell of the Nationals and Andrew Benintendi of the Royals as potential fits. No matter what direction they end up going, it’s certainly nice to see the Mets will be looking to provide this lineup with a bit of a boost.
