3 Mets Breakups That Now Appear Inevitable Once Season Ends

Could the Mets look to move on from these three?

Feb 18, 2026; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; David Stearns who serves as the president of baseball operations for the New York Mets speaks at the new training facility groundbreaking ceremony during spring training workouts at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As the New York Mets begin to wrap up their miserable 2026 campaign, the fans' eyes are shifting to the 2027 season. After the abject failure that this season will result in, it is fair to assume the Mets’ roster will look incredibly different next year. With that change, it would be reasonable to expect some unexpected roster moves on the horizon. 

The Mets did not build this team with many long-term investments, which should help them get out of bad contracts or move on from players who either were not a good fit or did not meet expectations. Considering that they are proudly declared sellers at the trade deadline, there should not be many expiring contracts on the roster by the end of September.

This means the Mets are going to need to get more creative to address their roster, and it may require some serious outside-the-box thinking from President of Baseball Operations David Stearns and his team. Stearns thinks outside the box often and found great success in Milwaukee with it, but has yet to find that same level of success in Queens.

Stearns has shown multiple times that he is unafraid to make the unpopular move, and it has yielded mixed results. However, there is no doubt that he is willing to make big jumps to clear his roster and improve it. 

Looking towards the offseason, there are a few different ways that the team can go to open up key spots on the roster. Based on recent reports and the general direction of the team, here are three moves that now appear to be crystal clear for the Mets this winter, if they don’t get them done in the next week or so. 

3. Tyrone Taylor, OF

Taylor joined the Mets before the 2024 season in a deal that brought both him and veteran starter Adrian Houser to the team, and it seems as though Taylor will live out the rest of his arbitration with the Mets, barring a trade before the deadline. He could be a candidate to be traded in the next week, especially if his offensive breakout keeps up (he has four homers in July), but the odds are he is not on next year's Mets team anyway.

He has been consistently used as a fifth outfielder in New York and could probably find an elevated role on the open market. The Mets have Nick Morabito waiting in Triple-A Syracuse to fill the role of a right-handed, plus-defending bench outfielder, who will be a much younger and cheaper option with contract options, which creates roster flexibility. 

There is a real chance that the 32-year-old is moved in the coming days, especially as he continues to hit better than expected at the plate. His .718 OPS is his highest mark as a Met, and his .839 OPS against lefties will be more than enough to catch the attention of a contending team.

2. Marcus Semien, 2B

The Mets brought Semien in as part of the trade to get off of Brandon Nimmo’s contract, and his first year in New York has been a tough adjustment. His bat has continued to disappoint, his defense has taken a step back, and there is not much reason to believe he can turn anything around for the team.

With two years left on his contract after this year, the Mets could be inclined to cut him and open up the roster spot. The Mets did something similar with Robinson Cano in 2022, and they have been unafraid to eat money for the betterment of the roster under Steve Cohen’s ownership.

Odds are that the Mets are not planning to roster Semien in 2028 for the final year of his contract anyway, so cutting him a year early might not be as big of an obstacle. Not much in Semien's profile suggests a rebound, especially considering his OPS against lefties sits at just .643 this year. The Mets could go a few ways with this spot, but any other option would be an improvement over the aging second baseman.

1. Jeff Albert, Director of Hitting

This could be a spot to go with superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor, but instead we go with a needed front office move. Former general manager Billy Eppler hired Albert and has remained under Sterns all three of his seasons. He was promoted by the Mets' head executive to Director of Hitting, overseeing the entire organization, and was placed back in the dugout.

After the Mets' bats struggled to come through in the clutch down the stretch last year, Albert was moved into the dugout for the 2026 season. Aside from the outfield trio of AJ Ewing, Carson Benge, and Juan Soto, and catcher Francisco Álvarez, the Mets’ offense has had major issues all year.

Despite his recent success, Bo Bichette still owns an OPS under .700. Meanwhile, the likes of Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. have had down years when healthy. Former top prospects Brett Baty and Mark Vientos have fallen off a cliff and into the roster bubble yet again, and other key pieces have not been able to get it done at the plate.

The Mets' bats have steadily gotten worse over Albert’s tenure. Now four top-100 bats (Baty, Vientos, Ronny Mauricio, Luisangel Acuña) have turned out to be busts under Albert’s offensive leadership. And Álvarez's status as the team’s long-term answer at catcher is firmly up in the air, due in large part to his inability to put together a strong, consistent season at the plate. The Mets need a full reset on offense, which would require moving on from Albert after four seasons.