Morning Briefing: Could Mets Trade For Wilyer Abreu?
Good morning, Mets fans! Happy birthday to a pair of walk-off heroes, Mookie Wilson and Todd Pratt!
Brett Baty for Wilyer Abreu was the first trade ESPN’s David Schoenfield proposed in an article on potential deals that could happen during spring training. He pointed out that Baty does not have a clear starting role and the Red Sox have four starting outfielders and lack a third baseman. Both players are under team control for another four years and project similarly on FanGraph’s ZiPS.
But Schoenfield also noted that the Mets may not be interested because Bo Bichette can opt out of his contract after this season, which would leave the Mets without a third baseman, and if Carson Benge is ready to play left field that would eliminate the need for Abreu.
incent Carchietta-Imagn Images
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The Mets signed outfielder/catcher MJ Melendez, who went 5-for-60 in 23 games with the Royals in 2025, to a one-year, $1.5 million deal, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The pact includes $500,000 in incentives.
Melendez, 27, played most of last season for Triple-A Omaha, where he hit 20 homers, stole 20 bases and posted an .813 OPS. In his first three years in the majors, Melendez averaged 17 home runs for the Royals. His career slash line is .215/.297/.388. He still has one minor-league option left.
The Super Bowl was a battle of teams that missed the playoffs the previous year, inspiring MLB.com to have five of its writers draft potential World Series matchups between clubs that missed the 2025 postseason. With the first pick, writer Brent Maguire selected the Mets vs. the Orioles. That went well in 1969.
Keith Law of The Athletic dropped his list of the top 20 Mets prospects. Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and Jonah Tong were the top three as expected. Law called McLean a Rookie of the Year candidate. A surprise: Elian Peña at No. 5. The 18-year-old middle infielder slashed .292/.421/.528 with nine homers and 21 stolen bases in 55 games in the Dominican Summer League last year. He will start this season in Rookie Ball with the Mets’ Florida Complex League team.
“I don’t think Peña is a budding superstar, at least not yet, but I do think he’s going to hit well through the low minors given his feel for the zone and present strength for his age,” Law wrote.
MLB.com listed the top 17 players by FanGraphs’ Steamer projections who changed teams this offseason and three Mets made the cut. Bichette (3.9 fWAR projection) tied Kyle Tucker and Dylan Cease for the top spot. Marcus Semien (3.1) was eighth and Freddy Peralta (2.7) was 10th. Steamer, by the way, has Juan Soto sixth in the majors in projected fWAR (5.5) and Francisco Lindor at 10th (4.9).
Latest MLB News
NBC announced the hirings of Clayton Kershaw, Joey Votto and Anthony Rizzo as analysts this season. The three will appear on pregame shows before Sunday Night Baseball and the playoffs. NBC, which returns to airing baseball for the first time since 2000, has not announced its play-by-play teams. The network will broadcast the Mets’ Opening Day game vs. the Pirates at 1 p.m. ET on March 26.
Free agent Griffin Canning threw for teams at UCLA on Friday, per Will Sammon of The Athletic. Canning went 7-3 with a 3.77 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 16 starts for the Mets last season before rupturing his left Achilles coming off the mound against the Braves on June 26.
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Alexis Farinacci has more on the Melendez signing.
The MMO staff predicted the Super Bowl and nine out of 10 of us correctly picked Seattle. Shoutout to Mathias Altman-Kurosaki, who fearlessly forecasted a 31-16 Seahawks win. I hope he doesn’t let this get to his head.
Born on This Date: Daniel Muno (1989), Todd Pratt (1967), Doug Linton (1965), Mookie Wilson (1956).
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