Passan: Mets in Mix for Schwarber, Valdez, Tucker

ESPN baseball reporter Jeff Passan warmed up the hot stove Monday and had the Mets involved in free agent rumors for Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, Cody Bellinger and Framber Valdez. He also has Jeff McNeil likely on the way out via trade.

Passan said Schwarber, the 32-year-old designated hitter, who hit 56 homers and drove in 132 while finishing second in MVP voting, “might be the likeliest of the big free agents to sign first.” The baseball winter meetings start in six days.

“Unclear if something gets done before the winter meetings, but I’d be surprised if they end and he doesn’t have a team,” Passan wrote on Threads. The Phillies are the favorites to land Schwarber, but the Mets, Red Sox, Reds and others remain involved.

Tucker, 28, may not sign until 2026.

“At the end of the day, nobody can make a team better like Tucker, and whether it’s Toronto, Philadelphia, either New York team or perhaps one that misses out on the rest of the top players in the class, Tucker’s price will be met, and he’ll get a 10-year-plus deal for more than $300 million – with an even higher ceiling possible,” Passan wrote.

The Yankees want to keep Bellinger, but Trent Grisham accepting the qualifying offer has complicated things, according to Passan. The Yanks have a logjam in the outfield. The Mets, Dodgers, Phillies and others may look to pry him out of the Bronx, and like Schwarber, he may be among the earliest to sign.

He also said Valdez, arguably the best starter this offseason, is a fit for the Mets, and that a Tarik Skubal trade is looking “exceedingly unlikely.”

Then, Passan categorized a dozen players by their “likeliness to be traded.”

“The probably-won’t-go (Freddy Peralta, Hunter Greene, Byron Buxton, Steven Kwan), the will-they-be-traded (Ketel Marte, Jarren Duran, Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez), and the where-will-they-go (Brendan Donovan, Luis Robert Jr., Jeff McNeil, Nolan Arenado).”

Regarding incumbent NL Reliever of the Year Edwin Díaz, Passan notes that the 31-year-old will wind up with the “heftiest deal” of fellow back-end relievers Robert Suarez, Pete Fairbanks and Devin Williams. Another free agent Met Passan discusses is slugging first baseman Pete Alonso. Pete had a career year and will likely garner the contract to back that up. Now he’s “waiting for a team to step to the forefront.”

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