Mets trade rumors: After Jorge Polanco signing, David Stearns honing in on Padres

You will have to excuse Mets fans if they have not stopped sharpening their pitchforks and lighting their torches after David Stearns went out and signed infielder Jorge Polanco to a two-year, $40 million deal on Saturday.

New York’s president of baseball operations effectively brought in a career second baseman, coming off one of the best offensive seasons of his career with 26 home runs and an .813 OPS, to replace franchise home run king Pete Alonso, who flocked to Baltimore for a five-year, $155 million deal with the Orioles.

The Mets never extended an offer to Alonso, while Polanco has made just a single MLB appearance at first base and never recorded a chance.

That does not jive with Stearns’ philosophy of improving team defense. Maybe they see something that not many others do with Polanco’s defense. Perhaps preaching run prevention is just selective, so he could jettison a few players out of town.

The exodus out of Queens has been substantial, and it certainly has done nothing to improve the idea that the Mets are a legitimate contending team. After Brandon Nimmo, who had been in the organization since 2011, was shipped to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Marcus Semien, rumors continue to fly that he was unhappy at the prospect of Francisco Lindor becoming team captain.

A day before Alonso took the long-term, big-money deal he was thirsting for, star closer Edwin Diaz took $3 million extra to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are looking to become the first team since the 1998-2000 Yankees to three-peat.

This is as close to a clean slate as Stearns will get while running a team that still has an established foundation, whether that be Juan Soto or Francisco Lindor. But how he has responded to losing three vital cogs of the Mets machine is as telling as ever: He will not simply go out and throw money at the largest free agents until proven otherwise.

David Stearns, President of Baseball Operations for the New York Mets, is speaking to the media during a press conference before the baseball game at Citi Field in Corona, N.Y., on August 16, 2024. (Photo by Gordon Donovan/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCE

New York still needs an outfielder, particularly one with some pop, to replace Nimmo in left, while top prospect Carson Benge will begin spring training with a fast track to the starting center-field job should he have a good camp. Starting pitching is a must after the rotation imploded from June on. Outside of Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes, it appears there is not much else the Mets can rely on.

Stearns is reportedly in talks with the San Diego Padres to help tick off some of those items on the checklist in what is being teased as a significant multi-year deal — though the prospect of Lindor going out west for, say, Fernando Tatis Jr. is steeped more in myth than anything.

Padres starter Nick Pivetta, coming off a career year in which he went 13-5 with a 2.87 ERA and 190 strikeouts, is among Stearns’ targets. San Diego would be wise to sell high while they can, considering the 32-year-old right-hander had not had a season with a sub-4.00 ERA in any of his first eight MLB seasons. Pivetta also fits the mold of bargain finds that Stearns loves to take fliers on rather than signing big-name free agents to big-money deals (see Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes).

Outfielder Ramon Laureano would be another logical talent to inquire about. The 31-year-old tied a career-high with 24 home runs to go with 76 RBI and an .855 OPS. He is capable of playing a sound left field to replace Nimmo, and the $6.5 million club option that was exercised on his contract for 2026 is far cheaper than what Stearns would pay for Cody Bellinger or Kyle Tucker — though Laureano does not move the needle nearly as much.

What could provide a necessary arrival of good feeling is the Mets’ interest in the Padres’ bullpen targets, specifically fireballing strikeout machine Mason Miller to provide another closing option next to Devin Williams, or southpaw Adrian Morejon, who had a 2.08 ERA across 73.2 innings of work in 2025.

After Diaz’s exit, the Mets’ bullpen cupboard is bare, with Williams, Brooks Raley, and AJ Minter as the only legitimate options to work with.

It would obviously take a significant return to acquire such a package, and one of the club’s top pitching prospects, Jonah Tong, would likely headline a return. New York can also dangle David Peterson and Kodai Senga in front of a Padres team that still needs to bolster its pitching staff, too.

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