So far this offseason, the New York Mets have been linked to several different impact players and it seems they might be interested in making a significant upgrade at third base, as the Chicago Cubs could be willing to part ways with their superstar corner infielder in the near future.

Though infielder J.D. Davis served as the team’s every day third baseman this past season, the 27-year old struggled mightily to produce reliable defensive results, as he finished tied with the lowest OAA (-3) among all qualified third basemen in the major leagues.

As a result of his poor defense, the versatile infielder will likely need to be transitioned over to first base or the designated hitter spot, if it returns in 2021, which creates a vacancy at the hot corner.

Since the Mets are expected to be positioned approximately $54 million under the $210 million luxury tax after arbitration hearings, according to FanGraphs.com, they could certainly address this need through free agency but there aren’t any game-changing third basemen available aside from Justin Turner.

That being said, exploring the free-agent market isn’t the only option to resolve this issue, as the front office could look to the trade market to fill the hole on the left side of their infield.

While things could change quickly, the Cubs are expected to listen to offers on third baseman Kris Bryant this winter, according to Buster Olney of ESPN. Considering former president of baseball operations Theo Epstein did the exact same thing last offseason and never pulled the trigger on a deal, there’s no guarantee the club will actually trade the 2016 NL MVP this time around.

Despite the front office’s prior hesitation to move the three-time All-Star, it seems this offseason might be the perfect time to do so, as they’re reportedly looking to shed some payroll and the 28-year old will likely command somewhere around $20 million through arbitration. Adding to this, the 6-foot-5 corner infielder is slated to become a free agent next winter and it seems his troubling history with management could tempt him to sign a lucrative contract elsewhere.

With that in mind, there’s no question the Mets should definitely entertain the idea of adding Bryant to their roster, especially since they’d have the financial resources to re-sign him. Even though they’re a clear fit for him, the former first-round pick won’t come cheap and the Cubs will undoubtedly be looking to receive a haul of future assets as they look to refresh their lineup.

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Considering Chicago featured the second-oldest pitching staff in the majors in 2020, and currently have two open spots within the starting rotation, there’s a very strong chance they’ll be looking to acquire at least one top young hurler in exchange for the right-handed infielder. Thanks to former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, New York doesn’t have many pitchers in its prospect system who fit that description, meaning David Peterson would likely need to be included in this trade.

Based on his impressive rookie campaign, the new president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, wouldn’t be doing his job properly if he didn’t target the 25-year old pitcher – who earned a 3.44 ERA over his 49 2/3 innings pitched.

While he certainly earned plenty of attention over the shortened 2020 campaign, it seems very unlikely that the Mets would agree to surrender him at this stage of his career, as the youngster appears to be a key part of their rotation moving forward.

Since the Cubs’ minor-league system only features one middle infielder (Nico Hoerner) who’s expected to be able to play in the majors next season, they’ll also probably be asking for a talented young infielder to be packaged with Peterson. At first glance, shortstop Andres Gimenez jumps out as a clear and obvious target, but there’s almost no chance the team would want to part with two of their top young players in exchange for Bryant.

Digging deeper into the Mets’ prospect system, both Ronny Mauricio and Brett Baty would likely garner a ton of interest from Hoyer and his staff, as it appears they’ll each be able to make a strong impact at the major league level very shortly. But similar to Gimenez, the organization probably isn’t prepared to part with either of those players right now, especially for someone who could depart through free agency after the 2021 campaign.

Based on these potential packages for Bryant, the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year award winner probably isn’t coming to New York unless Chicago is willing to lower its asking price.

Since they could easily revisit these trade discussions closer to next summer’s trade deadline, there’s a very good chance their demands won’t decrease any time soon, although anything could happen.

Adding to the veteran’s expensive price tag, it probably wouldn’t be wise for the Mets to surrender a massive chunk of their prospect capital for someone who endured plenty of struggles at the plate this past season. Though his results were produced over just 34 games, it’s still extremely concerning that the San Diego standout’s production took a turn for the worse during his sixth season in the majors.

Through his 147 plate appearances, Bryant recorded just four home runs, 11 RBIs, .145 ISO (10th-lowest among all third basement who earned at least 140 plate appearances), .264 BABIP (10th-lowest), .285 wOBA (fourth-lowest), 8.2% walk rate (12th-lowest), 27.2% strikeout rate (eighth-highest), 17.6% LD rate (seventh-lowest), 5.5% barrel rate (tied for ninth-lowest), 31.9% hard-hit rate (fourth-lowest), 76 wRC+ score (tied for fourth-lowest), 0.5 fWAR rating, along with a slashing line of .206 (fifth-lowest)/ .293 (fifth-lowest)/ .351 (fifth-lowest)/ .644 (fifth-lowest), according to FanGraphs.com.

To make matters worse, the superstar third baseman failed to replicate his historically impressive production against right-handed pitchers. Overall, the 2016 World Series champion created career-lows in AVG (.184), OBP (.250), SLG (.340), OPS (.590), ISO (.155), BABIP (.234), wOBA (.258), wRC+ (58), LD rate (13.2%), walk rate (6.3%), and he also produced the highest strikeout rate (31.3%) of his career against righties.

Taking into account all of these crucial factors, the Mets would likely be better off staying away from Bryant this offseason and focusing their attention on one of the other superstar players that’s currently available on the trade market, perhaps someone like shortstop Francisco Lindor.

That being said, no one should expect the front office to completely rule out a potential trade with the Cubs, as general managers have to be open to every opportunity that could potentially improve their roster.

While it seems trading for Bryant might be a long shot right now, there’s no debating team president Sandy Alderson and his staff will continue to be aggressive over the next several months, as they attempt to reshape this roster into a championship contender for next season and beyond that point as well.