The Mets might have an outfielder up their sleeve

By Steven Inman

The Mets have been linked to Scott Hairston on and off throughout the offseason. He is still looking for a two year deal and depending on the report the Mets may or may not be willing to give him that. My suspicion is that if the Mets were willing to give Hairston a two-year deal they would have done it by now.

The Mets #1 priority right now remains adding help to their outfield. The Mets also plan to address their bullpen as relievers start to get desperate as Spring Training gets closer.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweeted that while the Mets like Scott Hairston he is being viewed as a fallback option in case they can’t obtain a bigger name outfielder. Before hearing that I was under the assumption that Hairston was the Mets bigger name outfielder.

Justin Upton would look perfect wearing the orange and blue, but the Mets can’t afford to empty the farm at this point.

The Mets have talked with the Diamondbacks about Justin Upton but his price tag has been deemed too high by the Mets. Upton, 25, was traded to the Mariners yesterday but has a four team no-trade clause and the Mariners were on it so Upton in his right, rejected the trade. The Mariners were giving up a lot including SS Nick Franklin, LHP Charlie Furbush, reliever Stephen Pryor and top prospect pitcher Taijuan Walker. That would be the equivalent of Zack Wheeler, Wilmer Flores, Josh Edgin probably Jeurys Familia and probably more. With the Mets farm system in the state that it is right now, a deal like that probably doesn’t make a ton of sense.

It’s hard to imagine any team giving the Diamondbacks the type of package that the Mariners were willing to give up.

It doesn’t make a ton of sense for the Mets to give up a combined 12 years of service time between Wheeler and Flores for three years of Upton. The one positive of rumors of an Upton deal is Upton’s contract is three years and $39 million. It’s a positive that the Mets can afford that type of contract on their limited budget.

Perhaps the Mets are thinking about an outfielder that hasn’t been previously reported. However the Mets are going to have to get creative to fix their outfield. Time is running out.