The New York Mets rank first in NL East, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking for upgrades in certain areas.
According to SNY’s Andy Martino, the Mets are in the market for a third baseman and have had “very preliminary discussions” with the Minnesota Twins about Josh Donaldson.
Martino notes, however, that it is unclear how serious the Mets are in persecuting Donaldson because they “still prefer to stay under the luxury tax of $ 210 million”.
Donaldson is in the second year of a four-year $ 92 million contract. His deal includes a competitive balance sheet tax calculation of $ 23 million over an entire season, or around $ 11.5 million in half a season.
The Mets have about $ 13 million in the room and would be tight if they took over Donaldson.
Donaldson started on Sunday with a hit of 0.252 / 0.347 / 0.491 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI.
With the Mets’ two top third base options, JD Davis and Jonathan Villar dropped due to injury, New York has relied on utility man Luis Guillorme as their daily third baseman.
If the Mets pulled the trigger, Donaldson would be their starter in third place.
Other third basemen that might be available as of the reporting date are Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Kyle Seager of Seattle Mariners, Eduardo Escobar of Arizona Diamondbacks, and Miguel Andujar of New York Yankees.