Former 27-HR Slugger Emerging As Mets Offseason Trade Candidate

September 16, 2026
It wasn't that long ago that Mark Vientos looked like a building block for the New York Mets. 

Now MLB.com is naming him as one of the more realistic trade chips in baseball heading into the offseason.

From 27-Homer Breakout To Trade Bait

Mark Feinsand included Vientos among his list of intriguing offseason trade candidates.

Vientos broke out in 2024 with 27 home runs, 71 RBIs and an .837 OPS in just 111 games, numbers that made him a key piece of New York's run to the NLCS and had fans penciling him in as a middle-of-the-order fixture for years. 

Since then, Feinsand notes, Vientos has posted negative bWAR in both 2025 and 2026, calling his current mark the worst of his career by a wide margin. His underlying Statcast data backs up the decline too, with a below-average expected weighted on-base percentage this season that lines up with the surface-level numbers rather than suggesting bad luck. 

SNY's Chelsea Janes has separately reported that the Mets are unlikely to bring Vientos back in his current role, telling fans that she doesn't see a path for him at first base even with real uncertainty at the position for 2027. 

Feinsand raised the possibility that New York simply non-tenders him outright, though he also pointed out that Vientos enters his first year of arbitration eligibility with a price tag low enough that another team could easily view him as a change-of-scenery buy-low candidate instead of letting the Mets cut him loose for nothing. 

Mets' Crowded Infield Makes Him Expendable

Vientos is one of three homegrown young infielders, alongside Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez, whose futures in New York have become offseason talking points after a disappointing collective season for the group some fans have nicknamed the "baby Mets." 

That kind of depth, even when it comes with underperformance attached, gives New York's front office trade flexibility this winter. 

The Mets have already been connected to rotation targets like Logan Gilbert and Shane McLanahan as they look to upgrade a pitching staff that needs help, and moving a player like Vientos, even for a modest return, is the kind of subtraction that can help fund an addition elsewhere on the roster. 

Vientos still carries three more years of club control and, unlike a rental, gives an acquiring team multiple seasons to bet on a bounce-back at a below-market price. 

For a rebuilding club or a contender light on right-handed power, that combination of upside and cost control is more appealing than his 2025 and 2026 numbers alone would suggest.

The Mets could still non-tender him outright and get nothing in return, which would be the outcome if his market never materializes. 

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