According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the New York Mets are considering a reunion with former first baseman Lucas Duda even after signing Jay Bruce on Wednesday.
Duda, 31, hit .246/.347/.532, 129 OPS+ with 21 doubles, 17 home runs and 37 RBI with the Mets in 2017 before he was traded in July to the Tampa Bay Rays for relief prospect Drew Smith.
The left-handed slugger struggled mightily though with the Rays slashing only .175/.285/.44 with seven doubles, 13 home runs and 27 RBI in 52 games.
Duda’s defense at first base slipped a little in 2017 with -1 DRS in 792 innings after posting 4 DRS in 2016 and 5 DRS in 2015.
Lucas was a .246/.343/.457, 122 OPS+ hitter in his career with the Mets and had an OPS+ of at least 116 in his last four seasons with the team.
Sandy Alderson expressed concern very early this offseason with Dominic Smith being starter at first base citing poor conditioning. Before signing Bruce, the Mets had been connected to first base types like Adam Lind and Logan Morrison.
