The Pittsburgh Pirates are talking to the Mets about Brett Baty or Mark Vientos, according to Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan.
"SOURCES: The Pirates have been engaged in trade talks with the NY Mets, and are pursuing Brett Baty or Mark Vientos," Fillipponi reported Tuesday. "Both play 3B. But have been uprooted from that position because of the Mets' offseason moves. Asking price is high, but something can still get done."
This is the kind of rumor that sounds vague until you actually look at the rosters. Then it makes too much sense for both sides to ignore.
How the Mets built a surplus nobody planned
David Stearns spent this winter demolishing the Mets' infield and reassembling it from scratch. Pete Alonso left for Baltimore. Brandon Nimmo was traded to Texas for Gold Glove second baseman Marcus Semien. Jeff McNeil got shipped to Oakland. Then Bo Bichette arrived on a three-year, $126 million deal — roughly 12 hours after Kyle Tucker chose the Dodgers — and Stearns slotted him at third base, a position Bichette has never played at any professional level.
Jorge Polanco signed for $40 million to play first base. Suddenly Francisco Lindor, Semien, Bichette, and Polanco fill four infield spots, and guys like Baty, Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio are fighting over DH at-bats and scraps.
Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported in The Athletic that the Mets are "open to dealing infielders Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio, and Luisangel Acuña." Acuña is already gone, sent to Chicago in the Luis Robert Jr. trade. But Baty and Vientos are still here, and the front office knows their value only drops if they ride the bench all year. Sammon separately reported that the Mets envision Baty performing "the utility role that they formerly envisioned for Jeff McNeil," including time in left field and at first base. That's organizational code for we don't have a starting job for this guy anymore.
Pittsburgh's third base problem just got worse
The Pirates watched Eugenio Suárez pick Cincinnati over them this weekend despite reportedly matching the Reds' $15 million AAV and even offering additional guaranteed years. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirmed the Pirates' offer was competitive. Suárez chose familiarity — he spent seven seasons with the Reds from 2015 to 2021 — over a franchise that hasn't had a winning season since 2018.
That leaves Jared Triolo as the Opening Day third baseman. Triolo won a Gold Glove in 2024. He also hit .227 with a .356 slugging percentage last season for a team that collectively slugged an MLB-worst .350. If you're GM Ben Cherington, that combination of glove and no bat shouldn't let you sleep well.
Baty or Vientos? The data answers this one pretty clearly
Baty is the better fit for Pittsburgh. It's not even all that close.
He's a left-handed hitter, which matters at PNC Park. The 21-foot right field wall and 325-foot corner reward pull-side power from the left side. Baty's 2025 was the best season of his career: .254/.313/.435, 18 home runs across 130 games, four defensive runs saved at third base, a 111 OPS+. He's 26, won't be arbitration-eligible until after this coming season, and would cost Pittsburgh roughly $780,000 in 2026. Four years of team control remain after that. He also played high school football at Lake Travis in Austin, Texas with Garrett Wilson — yes, the Jets' Garrett Wilson — and was the first high school third baseman the Mets drafted in the first round since David Wright back in 2001. He's not David Wright. But the pedigree is real and his bat trended up all year, particularly after the All-Star break when he slashed .291/.353/.477.
Vientos is the flashier name. His 2024 was electric — .837 OPS, 27 home runs, a scorching .998 OPS with five dingers in the postseason. But his 2025 was a serious red flag. OPS dropped to .702. His bWAR went to -0.2 in 121 games. Sprint speed sat in the 19th percentile. He was worth negative-seven outs above average at third. When Vientos isn't mashing, he doesn't really help you anywhere else. Joel Sherman of the New York Post floated a Vientos-to-Yankees scenario on Monday, noted the theoretical logic, then quickly added he "doesn't see a world where this trade actually takes place." That tells you roughly where Vientos' market stands: interesting on paper, complicated in practice.
The price tag is the real obstacle
Fillipponi noted the asking price is "high." The Mets aren't giving away cost-controlled talent for organizational filler. If Pittsburgh wants Baty, they'd almost certainly have to discuss pitching. And the Pirates already traded Luis Ortiz, Dennis Santana, and Mike Burrows this winter while trying to patch their lineup. Their rotation — Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler — is their one genuine organizational strength. Rumbunter, a Pirates-focused outlet, argued Pittsburgh was "absolutely right to shut down anything that smelled like our controllable arm for your expendable question mark."
That tension is what makes this interesting. The Mets have spare bats. The Pirates have young arms. Neither side wants to feel like they got taken. But somebody has to blink, and spring training opens next week.
I think Baty to Pittsburgh makes a lot of baseball sense. A left-handed bat with positive defensive value, four years of control, and a salary under $800K would immediately upgrade the Pirates' weakest position. Pittsburgh can't keep hoarding pitching and hoping that Triolo suddenly turns into a league-average hitter. You don't build around Paul Skenes by surrounding him with a lineup that can't score.
Sources: 93.7 The Fan (Fillipponi), The Athletic (Rosenthal, Sammon), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Mackey), New York Post (Sherman), ESPN, Rumbunter, Baseball Reference, Statcast