For the Mets and the other teams still in the Juan Soto lottery, their offseason will be largely shaped by which team Soto chooses.
If he signs with the Mets, their search for an outfield first baseman will almost certainly be complete.
If he chooses another team, the Mets — p Brandon Nimmo rooted in left field and Tyrone Taylor a Jose Siri Expected to split midfield – will have to find the right fielder.
When it comes to that prospect, two players you won’t find on this list are Anthony Santander a Teoscar Hernandez. Santander has a career OBP of .307, is coming off a huge year that feels like an outlier, and will likely be significantly overpaid. Meanwhile, Hernandez appears destined for a return to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here’s who should be the Mets’ top five free agent target hitters…
5. Randal Grichuk
It could be that the Mets are just keeping the outfield spot warm Drew Gilbert an opportunity to make his big league debut during the first half of the 2025 season – either in his natural center field or right field.
And if the Mets envision Gilbert coming up quickly, signing someone like Grichuk — who was a part-time player in 2024 and can handle all three outfield spots reasonably well — could make sense.
Grichuk hit .291/.348/.528 in 279 plate appearances over 106 games last season for the Arizona Diamondbacks, while beating lefties (.914 OPS) while more than handling righties (.801 OPS).
4. Michael Conforto
The Mets reportedly expressed interest in Conforto around last season’s trade deadline, and a reunion with the homegrown left-handed hitter could make sense in 2025.
Conforto was solid last season for the San Francisco Giants, hitting .237/.309/.450 with a 116 OPS+, which was a solid improvement over his literal major league offensive output in 2023 (100 OPS+).
He knows the market, knows a handful of Mets players from his time in Queens, and could slot into right field without a problem.
3. Tyler O’Neill
O’Neill could be a high-risk, high-reward option if the Mets don’t land Sota.
Since establishing himself as a regular in 2021, O’Neill has had two seasons (2021 and 2024) where his offensive production was at All-Star level and two more (2022 and 2023) where it was subpar.
He has tremendous power, hitting 31 homers last season for the Boston Red Sox in just 113 games while slashing .241/.336/.511. But with all that power comes plenty of strikeouts, as he struck out a whopping 159 times in those 113 games.
2. Jesse Winker
Winker was a great player after being acquired last summer and had some huge regular season and postseason hits for the Mets.
His regular season overall numbers in New York were underwhelming as he hit just .243/.318/.365 with three home runs and five doubles in 129 plate appearances over 44 games.
However, Winker has seemed to fit in well in the clubhouse, has been a power hitter (118 OPS+) over his eight-year career, and is almost certainly obtainable on a relatively cheap one-year deal.
1. Juan Soto
Soto is not only the best player on the free agent market, but one of the best players to ever hit the free agent market.
Add to the above that he just turned 26, is coming off a monster season and is a proven playoff cracker, and you have someone whose deal could eclipse 14 years and $600 million.
Fortunately for the Mets, they’re in an incredibly strong position in terms of their ability to make such an offer to Soto, and they have no problem building a dangerous team around him for years to come if he takes it.