Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Jim Bowden of The Athletic reports that once the Mets get a deal done with Carlos Correa that their focus will then be adding a backup outfielder. It would certainly make sense given that right now their fourth outfielder –not counting Jeff McNeil— is Khalil Lee.
The Mets starting outfield right now is Brandon Nimmo in center field, Starling Marte in right field, and Mark Canha in left, but the options after that including Lee are not strong. The 24-year-old Lee homered in one of his only two at-bats in the big leagues in 2022 but slashed only .214/.330/.370 in 108 minor league games.
Prospect Brett Baty has minor league experience in left field and looked like he could handle that position. However, he played only 11 games in the outfield last season and it would certainly make sense for the Mets to have him start the 2023 season in Triple-A Syracuse to get more reps in left field.
The already weak free agent outfield market has been pretty well picked over at this point, though there are a couple of veteran players that could help the Mets in a depth outfield role. As we noted recently, Adam Duvall and Jurickson Profar are arguably the best outfield options available in the free agent market. We profiled veteran outfielder AJ Pollock as a player that could make sense for the Mets. I’m sure Buck Showalter would welcome a reunion with Trey Mancini if he was willing to play a part-time role.
Other outfielders still available include David Peralta, Corey Dickerson, Robbie Grossman, Ben Gamel, Andrew McCutcheon, Tommy Pham, Jackie Bradley Jr., Adam Engel, Tyler Naquin, and Kevin Pillar.
