The New York Mets are “in it to win it” for the 2020 season, according to general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. There are some stipulations to that particular statement, though.

While BVW recently mentioned at the Winter Meetings that he feels New York has more answers than questions on the current roster, he’s still searching for improvements. One of those potential improvements involves a player the Mets have been connected to for the better part of the winter: Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Starling Marte.

Knowing this is still a possibility is comforting because it signals that acquiring Jake Marisnick isn’t all the front office wants to do with center field. But with the potential of adding Marte’s salary and needing to fill other holes on the roster, the Mets would also be looking to shed some salary in the process (like, you know, Jed Lowrie or Jeurys Familia).

In order for an opposing team to accept such a contract (especially to a team like the Pirates), New York would need to include an intriguing and controllable MLB player. Reports are pointing to that being an outfielder despite Pittsburgh’s preference for a catcher.

If there’s one thing the Mets have plenty of with regard to trade talks, it’s MLB-level outfielders. However, that’s where it gets tough since the club is reportedly willing to part with and has been discussing the prospect of trading Brandon Nimmo.

It doesn’t matter who the Mets trade away from their young core. If they pull the trigger on something, it’ll hurt, but that’s the way things like this go. In order to get something you want and/or need, you have to give up something that’s valuable.

When it comes to Nimmo, though, imagining a scenario where he’s not roaming the Mets’ outfield is especially hard because of how that’d leave the roster.

Hypothetically speaking, New York would net a solid all-around player in Marte (even though he was worth -9 Defensive Runs Saved in ’19) to play center field. That’d pair nicely with Marisnick as the fourth outfielder for late-game situations, along with Michael Conforto staying put in right field on a consistent basis again.

Nimmo no longer being on the roster would leave an opening in left field. Yoenis Cespedes‘ status is still very much up in the air, leaving J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith, since Jeff McNeil is penciled in to play third base. Both Davis and Smith enjoyed various levels of success at the plate in 2019, but their left-field defense was less than desirable according to advanced metrics.

Smith was worth -3 Defensive Runs Saved in 223 innings in the outfield, while Davis was worth -11 in nearly 600 innings of work. Nimmo hasn’t exactly been performing at a Gold Glove level himself (-6 DRS in ’18, -1 DRS in ’19), but it’d be better if he didn’t have to spend a significant amount of playing time in center field.

The Mets are still very much built around the success of a starting rotation that includes Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, and Michael Wacha (pending physical). The most consistent thing the team has lacked over the years is above-average defense. Subtracting Nimmo and adding Marte to the current mix doesn’t make the outfield defense much better — the metrics say it’d actually be worse.

It’s not like the appeal in acquiring Marte helps significantly improve the offense, either. He does bring stolen-base upside to the table, but when looking at what he and Nimmo can both contribute overall, I’d rather have the soon-to-be 27-year-old entering his physical prime, not the 31-year-old that’s potentially exiting his.

Given the financial situation the Mets have painted for everyone this offseason, they’ll need to give up a valuable part of the current MLB squad in order to fill other holes on the roster.

At the end of the day, that may end up being Nimmo. Whether it’s him or someone else doesn’t really matter. One just has to hope that whatever deal is struck allows New York to seemingly take a significant step forward in 2020 — especially after seeing what the rest of the division has been up to.

With getting better defensively needing to be a priority, I’m not so sure this kind of potential deal makes all that much sense for New York, although I’ll be hoping for the opposite if it does take place.