Ranking the 3 Most Ideal Mets Trade Partners This Offseason

With a weak free agent class, the New York Mets could look to pull off a few trades to find players who could help. These three teams rank as the best trade partners for David Stearns.

New York Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns could be looking to wheel and deal this offseason to fill various roster needs. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While the free agent market has been slow-moving at the start of the offseason, the New York Mets don't have to rely on that venue to add talent to their roster. With a weak class and a stack of attractive trade chips, Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns may decide that trying to complete deals with other teams may be the more prudent way to add talent to the big- league roster.

However, it takes two teams to tango, and finding deals is often a complex web of matching up areas of surplus, pieces of interest, and potentially competing timelines of contention. Let's look at three teams that could be the best matches for the Mets in a potential offseason deal.

Seattle Mariners

Stearns has made it clear he will look at many different avenues to address the rotation, and few teams have more of a starting pitching surplus than the Mariners. Even after shipping out underachieving Luis Castillo at the deadline, Seattle already has a full five-man rotation of Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller, George Kirby, and Emerson Hancock, with top prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan pushing for big-league opportunities.

Seattle's problem is that they have significant offensive questions after a lost year from Cal Raleigh, a sluggish year from Josh Naylor, and Randy Arozarena set to hit free agency. Bats are the order of the day for Jerry DiPoto, which could allow the Mets to move some of their surplus pieces in the middle infield in exchange for a starter from the Mariners.

One player to watch is Gilbert, who is entering a walk year and would likely cost less in a deal than the starters with more club control like Woo and Kirby. The Mets likely won't part with someone like Jefferson Rojas for a Mariners starter, but anyone else in that middle infield group could be in play as a potential upgrade for the Seattle lineup.

Houston Astros

The next team to watch also resides in the AL West as the Astros are at a crossroads. Despite being the reigning division champions, Houston's core is aging rapidly, and owner Jim Crane has put a new regime in charge, hiring Cardinals executive Randy Flores as general manager while still searching for a manager.

Flores' choices on team building could have an impact on the type of deals the Mets could pursue, especially if Houston decides to start a rebuild. A true rebuild could put potential American League MVP Yordan Alvarez on the market, which would be the kind of true difference-making bat that could be worth dumping a ton of prospects on the table for.

A more realistic match could be acquiring either Isaac Paredes or Christian Walker if the Astros decide to clear some of their infield glut to create a more well-balanced roster. Walker would be an ideal target for the Mets as a short-term solution at first base, and the Mets could send Sean Manaea to the Astros as part of a package to balance the money while giving Houston another starting pitching option.

Minnesota Twins

The third team on this list is Minnesota, which is in no-man's-land, as their current talent collection may be competitive in the weak American League but isn't good enough to be a true title contender. The connective tissue between the Mets and Twins tightened when Stearns hired Derek Falvey, who ran baseball operations in Minnesota, as a special adviser at the end of September.

The obvious target for the Mets in a deal with Minnesota would be ace Joe Ryan, who could be a major boost to their starting rotation. Ryan, a pending free agent at the end of the upcoming season, could either lead the rotation by himself or slot in behind Tarik Skubal as a quality No.2 option if the Mets splurge for the top starter on the market.

Another intriguing option would be talented infielder Royce Lewis, whom the Twins recently moved to first base to keep him healthy. Injuries are certainly a risk, but the Mets have controllable starting pitching and infield depth pieces that could allow Minnesota to plug some of its holes and build a more complete roster.

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