The Mets’ search for a center fielder could involve the Pirates’ Starling Marte.
The 31-year-old is coming off perhaps his best season at the plate with an .845 OPS. He is set to make $11.5 million in 2020, with a club option for 2021 that is worth $12.5 million.
With the Mets lacking an obvious choice to play center and having cut ties with Juan Lagares by declining his option for next season, a trade may be possible as they look to upgrade from Brandon Nimmo on defense.
The Post’s Mike Puma and Ken Davidoff linked Marte to the Mets. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman also reported the Mets were interested in the 2016 All-Star.
Marte also would fill the Mets’ need to add a right-handed bat to an outfield that included the lefty-swinging Nimmo, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith in 2019.
The Mets don’t have an obvious choice in the minors and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has said Amed Rosario is not a candidate to be shifted from shortstop to center, as had been discussed last year.
There are also no top free agents at the position, and a trade for the Red Sox’s Mookie Betts remains highly unlikely.
Betts is heading into the final season of his contract and will get a bump in arbitration from the $20 million he made a year ago, so any team that trades for him almost certainly will have to surrender good prospects for perhaps just one season. Also, Betts has played 192 games in his career in center field, but primarily has been in right.
Van Wagenen hasn’t ruled out Nimmo being the regular center fielder in 2020.
“Even if we were to acquire a piece for the outfield, we went into last year and we believed Nimmo could be an everyday center fielder,” Van Wagenen said last week. “It was unfortunate that he dealt with the injuries that he did, but we believe that he can play every day in center field and he’s a valuable piece to our club. We saw the athleticism from Brandon at the end of the year when he came back in September and if we went into the season today, he is our center fielder.”
That leaves someone like Marte, who has spent his entire eight-year career in Pittsburgh. His defense has slipped in recent years, but he won a Gold Glove in 2016.
The Pirates recently hired Ben Cherington as GM, so changes could be coming.