The New York Mets are looking to improve their run prevention this offseason and one way they can do so is by upgrading the center field position.
The Mets already made one big trade recently, swapping left fielder Brandon Nimmo for second baseman Marcus Semien. They’re now being predicted by Bleacher Report to swing a blockbuster deal with the Minnesota Twins for Byron Buxton.
Per Bleacher Report’s trade proposal, the Mets will receive Buxton, an All-Star center fielder, in exchange for top prospects Jett Williams, Jacob Reimer and Jonathan Santucci.
This is a trade the Mets would likely make given the level of star power that Buxton brings to the table. The Twins would also be getting a plethora of young talent that is close to the major leagues.
Buxton is under team control for three more years at $45 million total, which is a team-friendly deal. He would need to waive his no-trade clause, but he may be willing to do so now after the Twins traded away a significant amount of talent.
The only concern with Buxton is he has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his 11-year career. Buxton has played in 100 games or more in just three seasons since making his big-league debut in 2015. The good news is that he has appeared in over 100 games in back-to-back seasons which is a positive trend for the two-time All-Star.
Buxton is coming off an impressive campaign, where he slashed .264/.327/.551 with a .878 OPS, 35 home runs, 83 RBI and a 4.9 bWAR in 126 games (second-most games played in his career).
The soon-to-be 32-year-old would bring right-handed pop to a Mets lineup that could be losing one of the best righty hitters in the game in free agent first baseman Pete Alonso. He also provides solid defense in center, posting three outs above average in 2025.
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Should the Mets be able to pull off a trade for Buxton, they will have significantly upgraded their defense in both center field and at second base with Semien. This could leave them more wiggle room to bring back Alonso and have him split time between first base and DH.
President of baseball operations David Stearns revealed that top prospect outfielder Carson Benge will be competing for the center field job in spring training. But if the Mets can land Buxton, this would allow Benge to shift over to left field.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/mets/onsi as Mets predicted to land Byron Buxton in blockbuster trade.
