Off Season Ideas

[Jopal78]

19 hours ago, jay87shot said:

Are there any players that we could deal away or possible for as roster shrink. I think the last bullpen spot is really the only question mark. We are still a little away but I would imagine there will be some decent right handed bullpen arms available that could interest us. 

I've brought it up a couple times but with Lockridge playing well I would be ok with trading Perkins for a decent prospect or bullpen arm. I would guess there are a bunch of teams that would give up something decent for a gold glove caliber semi-light hitting OF with cheap control left.

 Mike Tauchman plays all 3 OF spots, has been a 108 OPS+ hitter and a 5.2 bWAR player the last 3 seasons (1136 PAs). He has long odds to make the Mets as a 5th OFer, with an opt out coming up before Opening Day.
 

Why then, for example, would anyone trade talent to Milwaukee for Perkins when Tauchman will likely be available for simply a 40 man roster spot? 

[jay87shot]

15 hours ago, wallus said:

Bauers is not a long term OF option because of his bad defense.

Yeli? No, keep him healthy being the DH.

Baddo hasn't shown anything for a while now that would make me want to give him at bats.

Black hasn't played much OF in the minors and hasn't hit either. I think he ultimately can be an OF option but I don't know if it's this year.

Lara isn't on the 40 man and is really young. He really needs to be in AAA all season.

Jett will likely be needed somewhere on the roster this year but it might be in the infield.

You're doing all of this to trade one of those guys for a minor return.

 

None of them are long term answers I fully agree, but with Sal and Chourio and then 2 of the 3 CF options the overall depth is good enough that keeping the 3rd CF isn't needed. 

Yeli and Bauers aren't full time as you mentioned but I would expect each to play 10-20 games in the OF. To get Bauers into the lineup when he is hot and to move Yeli in the OF to give Contreras the occasional day off. Baddoo is essentially Daz Cameron last year, he really will only need to play in an emergency but for a week or two would be passible. Black, Lara, and Jett aren't options at the beginning of the year but if there are a few injuries they all could be upside OF options by say mid-season. 

My general point is that if you consider Sal and Chourio play like 150 games, Yeli and Bauers play 30 ish in the OF that leaves like 150 for Perk, Mitchell, and Lockridge. If there are injuries there is more than enough depth and upside in the minors to weather the storm.

I wouldn't just trade Perk (or Mitchell/Lockridge) away for nothing I would want at least a reliever in the Casey Mears style or better or a top 15-20 prospect in our org. (might be a top 10 in some other orgs.)

[jay87shot]

4 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

 Mike Tauchman plays all 3 OF spots, has been a 108 OPS+ hitter and a 5.2 bWAR player the last 3 seasons (1136 PAs). He has long odds to make the Mets as a 5th OFer, with an opt out coming up before Opening Day.
 

Why then, for example, would anyone trade talent to Milwaukee for Perkins when Tauchman will likely be available for simply a 40 man roster spot? 

Good point on the cut players lessening the value of our depth, I like Tauchman, but there probably is more than 1 team that could use an OF in the near future. 

[gregmag]

9 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

 Mike Tauchman plays all 3 OF spots, has been a 108 OPS+ hitter and a 5.2 bWAR player the last 3 seasons (1136 PAs). He has long odds to make the Mets as a 5th OFer, with an opt out coming up before Opening Day.
 

Why then, for example, would anyone trade talent to Milwaukee for Perkins when Tauchman will likely be available for simply a 40 man roster spot? 

To say that "Tauchman plays all three OF spots" is tenuous.  In 2023, at age 32, Tauchman played mostly cf.  In 2024, at age 33, he played 67 games at the corner spots, mostly in rf, and only 15 in cf.  In 2025, at age 34, he played only in rf.  (Also, FWIW, in his one really good defensive season, way back in 2019, he played 78 games at the corners, 14 in cf.)  It's not impossible that a 35-year old whose teams have aggressively moved him off cf for two years could play meaningful innings at the position, but it's pretty unlikely.

I don't think teams would look at Tauchman and Perkins and see fungible players.  Tauchman is a corner of bat.  Perkins is a defense-first cf and also six years younger.  I'm not sure Perkins has trade value, but if he does, it's because some team wants to pay for cf defense.

Also, if Tauchman opts out, he's a free agent, right?  So wouldn't we have to assess his value based on what some team ended up paying him (or not)?

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, gregmag said:

To say that "Tauchman plays all three OF spots" is tenuous.  In 2023, at age 32, Tauchman played mostly cf.  In 2024, at age 33, he played 67 games at the corner spots, mostly in rf, and only 15 in cf.  In 2025, at age 34, he played only in rf.  (Also, FWIW, in his one really good defensive season, way back in 2019, he played 78 games at the corners, 14 in cf.)  It's not impossible that a 35-year old whose teams have aggressively moved him off cf for two years could play meaningful innings at the position, but it's pretty unlikely.

I don't think teams would look at Tauchman and Perkins and see fungible players.  Tauchman is a corner of bat.  Perkins is a defense-first cf and also six years younger.  I'm not sure Perkins has trade value, but if he does, it's because some team wants to pay for cf defense.

Also, if Tauchman opts out, he's a free agent, right?  So wouldn't we have to assess his value based on what some team ended up paying him (or not)?

The White Sox had Louis Robert Jr and Michael Taylor in CF for 157 games last season; that probably speaks loudest to why Tauchman did not play there in 2025.

But even assuming Tauchman and Perkins are not fungible, the point remains (which I don’t think you disagree with) bottom of the roster players don’t have trade value. 
 

Put another way,  a 29 year old, light hitting defensive CFer isn’t a unique enough talent for a team to part with assets to acquire when the same or similar players can be acquired without needing a trade to do so. 
 

 

[TURBO]

I don't think we see Yelich in the OF 20 games this year...For that to happen, something has gone dreadfully wrong.

I think Yelich takes the bench for 10 or so games while Contreras is at DH...  Yelich might miss another 20+ with some injury...

[jay87shot]

21 hours ago, TURBO said:

I don't think we see Yelich in the OF 20 games this year...For that to happen, something has gone dreadfully wrong.

I think Yelich takes the bench for 10 or so games while Contreras is at DH...  Yelich might miss another 20+ with some injury...

Contreras caught 128 last year and 22 DH, Yeli DH 128 and LF for 18. I can't see Contreras catching more games than last year. 20 games is like 1 game a week, I don't see that as unreasonable for Yeli and Contreras to shift to DH and LF once a week. Yeli payed 150 games last year and was way better the last 100 or so, whatever work last year should be copied in my opinion.

[Platoon Power]

On 3/18/2026 at 7:02 PM, Jopal78 said:

The White Sox had Louis Robert Jr and Michael Taylor in CF for 157 games last season; that probably speaks loudest to why Tauchman did not play there in 2025.

But even assuming Tauchman and Perkins are not fungible, the point remains (which I don’t think you disagree with) bottom of the roster players don’t have trade value. 
 

Put another way,  a 29 year old, light hitting defensive CFer isn’t a unique enough talent for a team to part with assets to acquire when the same or similar players can be acquired without needing a trade to do so. 
 

 

Their trade value is equal to what they are as players (other bottom of the roster types).  Perkins has a slight bit of value because he's cheap and controllable where a team with a need for a soft side of a platoon might be willing to offer a reliever similar to Easton McGee.

I'd rather keep Perkins just incase something happened to either Mitchell or Lockridge.  He serves a purpose and there's others I'd cut from the 40 man if I needed to create room.  

[Ro Mueller]

Looks like it’s DFA Day - at least 12 so far:

- C Alex Jackson, OF Dairon Blanco, C Garrett Stubbs, UT Vidal Brujan, C Ben Rortvedt, LHP Bryan Hudson, RHP Grant Holman, UT Brett Wisely, OF Johnathan Rodriguez, RHP Jackson Kowar, INF Bryan Ramos, RHP Jack Neely

[jay87shot]

On 3/25/2026 at 12:47 PM, Ro Mueller said:

Looks like it’s DFA Day - at least 12 so far:

- C Alex Jackson, OF Dairon Blanco, C Garrett Stubbs, UT Vidal Brujan, C Ben Rortvedt, LHP Bryan Hudson, RHP Grant Holman, UT Brett Wisely, OF Johnathan Rodriguez, RHP Jackson Kowar, INF Bryan Ramos, RHP Jack Neely

I would be interest in Jack Neely, he is 6'8" throws 96 and gets great extension. He only throws 2 pitches (fastball/sweeper) but he is a guy our staff could do well with. I think there could be a lot of Trevor Megill in there if he puts it together.