While the free-agent market seems flush with starting pitchers the New York Mets can target, first base does not have nearly as many options that are very appealing.

Milwaukee's decision to extend a qualifying offer to Jake Bauers may take the Mets out of play for his services, while a lower-cost addition like Ty France may not move the needle that much in a platoon with Jared Young.

At his end-of-season press conference, Stearns listed getting a first baseman as a priority, and adding one big bat there could significantly lengthen the lineup. While other names like Christian Walker and Spencer Torkelson could fit on the trade market, the Mets could make a bolder play to pry Vinnie Pasquantino from the Kansas City Royals.

Examining a potential Vinnie Pasquantino trade between the Mets and Royals

The Royals are in an intriguing spot because they have one of the best players in baseball, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., under contract on a long-term deal. The idea would be to try to build a winner to compete for a championship with Witt in his prime, but poor free-agent decisions and player development losses have left Kansas City's roster thin.

Pasquantino, who starred for Italy in the World Baseball Classic, had a relatively down year by his standards, batting just .249 with 17 home runs and 63 RBI in 114 games. Pasquantino has significant upside; he slugged 32 home runs and drove in 113 runs in the 2025 campaign, but that is also the only season of Pasquantino's big league career in which he has appeared in more than 131 games.

Kansas City has Pasquantino under club control for two more years before he hits free agency at age 31. The team agreed to a two-year bridge deal with Pasquantino to cover his first two arbitration years, which will pay him $7.1 million in 2027, and he will have another arbitration year before reaching the open market.

It would be prudent for the Royals to try to cash out on Pasquantino to add more cost-effective young talent to the big-league roster at a few positions. One potential deal could see the Mets acquire Pasquantino for a package centered around infielder Brett Baty and starting pitcher Zac Thornton.

Those two players would be the headliners for the Royals, who could use Baty as cover at multiple infield positions and plug Thornton right into their big-league rotation. The Mets would be taking a risk by moving Baty and assuming Marcus Semien could be their everyday second baseman again, but they have a few infield prospects on the verge of making the majors to offset Baty's loss.

Thornton would be a painful piece to move, but the Mets could potentially add Tarik Skubal, Michael King, and/or Clay Holmes in free agency, with several intriguing young pitchers closing in on big-league debuts. That calculus would make Thornton expendable to solve the first base problem with Pasquantino, whose ability to perform on a big stage like the World Baseball Classic should indicate he can handle the pressure of playing in New York.

The final piece of the deal would be infield prospect Ryan Clifford, who was on the fringe of becoming a top-100 prospect a few years ago before his minor league career hit a speed bump with AAA Syracuse this season. Clifford is still only 23 years old and has immense power potential, which could give Kansas City a chance to reset with a younger first base option if they can get his swing-and-miss issues in check.

Adding Pasquantino would offer the Mets a far more certain first baseman than any of the free agents available. His relatively low 2027 salary would be a positive in the event that radical change comes to the sport's economic structure. Putting someone like Pasquantino in the heart of the batting order would allow Young to revert to a super-utility role, which is more fitting of his skill set than playing every day.

It may take more than this offer to convince the Royals to part with Pasquantino, particularly if they still view him as part of their long-term core. It wouldn't be shocking to see the Royals attempt to sign Pasquantino to another extension first. But if those talks don't go anywhere, the Mets would be well-positioned to make a compelling offer to Kansas City.