The New York Mets are closing a last-place season with first base still unresolved and another missed postseason already on the ledger.
President of baseball operations David Stearns took care of one offseason item this week, removing the interim tag from Andy Green and giving the manager a three-year contract. The larger job is building a roster that can end a two-year playoff drought.
New York has four games left in 2026. The Mets last reached the postseason in 2024, when they advanced to the National League Championship Series. They have not gotten back since.
First base is one of the clearer holes. Jared Young had a useful year, but the club also has Mark Vientos, Brett Baty and Jorge Polanco in the conversation. That mix has not locked down the position.
Pending free agents are already being discussed as possible answers. Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers is one of the names generating the most interest after a career year.
Bauers, who turns 31 on Oct. 6, is batting .268 with 26 home runs and 83 RBIs. He has 90 runs, 123 hits, 93 walks and 11 stolen bases. His on-base percentage is near .394 and leads the National League.
His slugging percentage is about .495, and his OPS is in the .886 to .890 range. Baseball-Reference credits him with 3.2 WAR this season, well above his career mark of 1.9.
Bauers made $2.7 million in 2026 after avoiding arbitration with Milwaukee. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the World Series and is in line for a large raise.
The rest of his résumé is why teams will look twice. Over seven major league seasons, Bauers is a .223 hitter with 84 home runs and 294 RBIs. He has played for Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Seattle, the Yankees and the Brewers.
This year is the outlier. He has appeared in 115 games at first base and has also seen time in left and right field, giving him some lineup flexibility.
Defense is the other side of the ledger. Bauers leads the majors with eight errors at first base. He also strikes out often, even as he walks at a high rate and hits the ball hard.
Tyler Antonelle of Mets on SI included Bauers on a list of four free-agent first-base targets.
“Bauers is an interesting one because it’s unlikely you’d see David Stearns bring in another lefty bat to compete with Jared Young,” Antonelle wrote. “But an exception can be made for Jake Bauers, who has broken out in a massive way in 2026.”
Antonelle also wrote that Bauers “will soon be 31 and is in line for a major pay raise after making just $2.7 million this year. He has 26 home runs, 83 RBIs, and leads the NL in on-base percentage, getting on base at a near .400 clip.”
Tim Britton of The Athletic recently projected a deal in the neighborhood of $29.5 million, using Ryan O’Hearn’s two-year contract with Pittsburgh as a comparison.
Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm is another name in the same conversation. Mike Phillips of Mets on SI argued the Mets cannot enter 2027 hoping Young, Vientos, Baty and Polanco will sort first base by themselves.
“One good fit here could be Alec Bohm, who is hitting .251 with 15 home runs, 84 RBIs and a .707 OPS in 534 at-bats for the Phillies,” Phillips wrote.
Since reaching the majors in 2020, Bohm has hit .274 with 891 hits, 85 home runs, 482 RBIs and 394 runs in 868 games, according to StatMuse.
The coming free-agent class is thin at the very top outside of pitchers such as Tarik Skubal. That could push New York toward complementary hitters instead of one centerpiece signing.
Stearns now has to weigh whether Bauers’ surge is a new baseline or a one-season spike. Age, glove work, strikeouts and asking price will all shape that decision as the Mets try to put a better team around Green in 2027.
