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Replacing Pete Alonso’s power production won’t be easy for the Mets this offseason.
Signing veteran infielder Jorge Polanco was a stride in the right direction. He’s coming off one of the best offensive seasons of his career and the Mets have plans to use him at first base in addition to designated hitter.
It doesn’t sound like Polanco’s presence will preclude the Mets from targeting other first base options, though, especially those who would bring power from the right side of the plate.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Thursday that the Mets have shown interest in Cardinals slugger Willson Contreras. New York recently “continued evaluating how he’d fit their team,” Goold wrote.
This echoes a report from John Denton of MLB.com from earlier this month that linked the Mets to Contreras, a connection that stems from Alonso leaving for the Orioles in free agency.
Contreras has a no-trade clause, so he’ll have the final say if he’s willing to leave St. Louis in a trade. According to Goold, the 33-year-old told the Cardinals that he’d “prefer to remain with them but would consider a move to a team or city that is agreeable to his family.”
Importing Contreras would give the Mets another weapon to protect Juan Soto from the right side of the plate in the middle of their order. Contreras is not Alonso offensively by any means, but he swats 20-plus homers every year (when healthy) and has produced eye-catching metrics when it comes to bat speed and quality of contact.
Last season, Contreras slashed .257/.344/.447 over 135 games with 20 home runs and a career-best 31 doubles. In his decade-long career, including his first seven big-league seasons with the Cubs, Contreras is a .258 hitter with a .811 OPS.
Contreras’ defense is another reason he’d be a good fit in a Mets uniform. While Polanco has no first base experience and is considered a weak defender across the infield, Contreras is coming off his first full season at first base. Statcast measured Contreras as a plus defender as well with their outs above average metric.