The New York Mets have a lot of questions with their roster in the offseason as big names are set to become free agents, including first baseman Pete Alonso.
David Stearns and Steve Cohen will have their hands full with deciding whether to bring him back or if it makes sense to go a different direction. If the Mets choose the latter, former first round pick Tyler Soderstrom of the Athletics could be an option.
Tim Britton of The Athletic has mentioned the idea of adding Soderstrom on multiple occasions, and while he doesn’t know if it will happen, it would make sense from the Mets’ perspective.
“I suggested Soderstrom as a potential trade fit (while specifically saying it wasn’t necessarily a recommendation) because the A’s have a good offense and desperately need pitching,” wrote Britton. “He’s a first baseman (or DH) on a team with Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker, so he had to learn the outfield on the fly last season and had some rough moments out there (though graded out better than you’d expect overall). The Mets have some pitching depth and could potentially use Soderstrom’s offense, if Pete Alonso signs elsewhere.”
Adding Soderstrom would do two things for the Mets: replace Alonso at a fraction of the price and then subsequently allow the team to spend the money elsewhere. If the Mets were to acquire the former first round pick, here is one possibility of what the deal could look like:
Adding Soderstrom would be the big piece of the trade for the Mets. The Athletics are going to ask for Brandon Sproat or Jonah Tong in any trade, so the Mets would have to part with one of them. Ditching Senga in favor of Zane Taylor is simply a salary dump as Senga could be on the outside looking in for the rotation next season.
The Mets are going to have to get creative with how they go about retooling their roster in the offseason and one way to go about it would be adding Soderstrom via trade.
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