Inside The Mets

Underrated NL slugger called 'potential solution' for Mets outfield

Could the New York Mets try and trade for this surging slugger later this season?

Grant Young

Apr 4, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (5) gets ready to bat during the second inning against the Seattle Mariners at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images
Apr 4, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (5) gets ready to bat during the second inning against the Seattle Mariners at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images / Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets' strong 8-4 record heading into their April 11 contest against the Athletics is not owed to their production in center field.

The combined .321 OPS that Mets center fielders have amassed to this point in the season is the worst in all of baseball by a wide margin. While typical starting center fielder Jose Siri does a great job of scoring once he gets on base, reaching base in the first place has proved difficult thus far.

There's still plenty of time for Siri to turn things around. However, given his career .669 OPS, it wouldn't be wise to expect him to be a major contributor on offense. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller alluded to this in an April 10 article that was titled 'MLB Teams with Clear Needs Already for 2025 Trade Deadline', citing center field as the Mets' clear need.

"The Mets' center field situation is every bit as problematic as we feared it might be when they chose that spot to be (by their recent standards) uncommonly frugal, rolling with a $5.425 million platoon of Jose Siri and Tyrone Taylor," Miller wrote.

Read more: How Juan Soto may have helped Pete Alonso return to Mets

"Through 11 games, they have gone a combined 5-for-40 (.125) at the dish with no home runs, each amounting to a negative bWAR. Siri at least typically provides value with his speed on the basepaths and his range on defense, but that might not be enough at a position that could be the potential Achilles' heel that keeps the Mets from winning a loaded NL East."

Miller then listed San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski as a potential solution to this problem.

It's hard to imagine that the Giants will be eager to part ways with Yastrzemski (who is hitting .344 with a 1.056 OPS to this point in the season), given how important he has been to them starting this season with a 9-3 record.

But if San Francisco is out of playoff contention by the trade deadline, perhaps the Mets can come calling.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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