The need to make significant changes to the Mets’ offense is obvious. What’s not so obvious is the best way to do it, as this team is essentially locked in at some key positions while also strapped with some players coming off lousy seasons whose trade value will be diminished this winter.
Whoever is hired as the head of baseball operations to make such decisions will need to be bold and/or creative, but if it were my call I’d start by letting Michael Conforto go as a free agent.
In one sense I’d hate to do it because Conforto is a class act whose presence is good for a clubhouse that displayed immaturity at times this year, most notably with the thumbs-down nonsense that was a childish reaction to fans booing players.
In addition, it’s possible that as bad as he’s looked this season, Conforto could again find the form that led to a .927 OPS in the pandemic-shortened season of 2020. Yet at this point in his career I think it’s safe to say he’s always going to be prone to ups and downs and never the superstar so many people, myself included, have long thought he’d become.
In any case, if the Mets are going to fix this offense that has been a problem for two seasons, especially in clutch/situational hitting moments, they can’t simply hope that somehow the results will be different with mostly the same lineup.
Also, Conforto is going to be expensive, even if he were to take a qualifying offer, which last year was $18.9 million and could be slightly higher for 2022.
So I’d take the chance on letting Conforto walk, with the idea of signing someone like Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos instead, or Starling Marte.