- - Adding Bo Bichette makes the Mets a better team, but his defensive fit raises a lot of questions

Jordan ShustermanJanuary 16, 2026 at 4:45 PM

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The free-agent frenzy continues.

Any consternation about a slow-developing market informed by a quiet holiday and first week of 2026 has suddenly evaporated. For the fourth time in seven days, a big-market club has leaped forward with a nine-figure offer to land a premium free agent. The latest cash-splashing sequence: The New York Mets, hours after coming up short in their pursuit of Kyle Tucker, have reportedly agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal with Bo Bichette.

Wait, what?

Before contemplating Bichette’s fit in Queens, let’s take a second to acknowledge the futility of forecasting free agency. If we’ve learned anything from the past week of head-spinning transactional activity, it’s that attempting to gauge which teams are “in the lead” or “considered favorites” for a free agent is a fool’s errand. The reality is that when only a handful of clubs are considering spending at the top of the free-agent market, each successive agreement immediately shakes up the state of play. We saw it earlier this week with the Red Sox responding to losing Alex Bregman by signing starting pitcher Ranger Suarez instead, and now we’ve seen it with the New York Mets whiffing on a much-needed outfielder and pivoting to an infielder who doesn’t fit their depth chart at first glance but most certainly makes them a better team.

Teams spending at this level are usually focused on adding elite talent and willing to figure out the exact roster ramifications later. Funnily enough, that dynamic was part of what made the Philadelphia Phillies seem like a logical landing spot for Bichette, despite their crowded infield situation. Philadelphia met with Bichette recently and reportedly offered him a seven-year contract worth $190 million-200 million, an indication the Phillies considered him worthy of a significant investment, regardless of Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott. And when president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski targets a star player, he tends to seal the deal.

But the Mets’ proposal — a scaled-down version of what they offered Tucker, a reported four-year, $220 million deal — was evidently too enticing for Bichette to turn down, and it’s a reminder of owner Steve Cohen’s unique willingness to spend exorbitantly when the right opportunities arise. Most crucially, the deal features opt-outs after the first two seasons. For a player who is still firmly in his prime — Bichette turns 28 in March — the sky-high AAV ($42M!) combined with the chance to reenter what projects to be a shallow free-agent class in either of the next two offseasons was apparently reason enough to take a short-term stint in Queens rather than putting down roots in Philadelphia.

Making sense of the Mets’ seemingly sudden interest in Bichette is its own compelling exercise. Focus on Bichette the hitter, and it comes as no surprise that his special bat would appeal to a team amid a drastic lineup overhaul, having watched three longtime mainstays in Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil depart via trade or free agency. The Mets added Marcus Semien in the Nimmo trade and signed Jorge Polanco, but it was hard to argue that those two additions were remotely enough to replace the production lost.

Adding Bichette, who has been at least 20% better than league average at the plate in all but one (his injury-marred 2024) of his seven major-league seasons goes a long way toward quelling those concerns. His rare ability to blend terrific contact skills with plus power should only be enhanced by sharing a lineup with another disciplined hitting savant in Juan Soto, just as it was in Toronto with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Add the bonus of snagging him at the last minute from the division-rival Phillies, and the Bichette signing is that much more satisfying for New York.

The defensive fit, meanwhile, invites more questions.

A shortstop for essentially his entire professional career, Bichette’s defensive outlook has been a hot topic throughout his free agency, considering how poorly his glove rated by nearly every advanced metric in 2025. The widespread assumption was that Bichette would soon make the move to second base, a transition many former shortstops have made and a sensible adjustment considering his prior experience at the position in the minor leagues and during the World Series. There were occasional hints that Bichette would perhaps consider a move to third base, but when surveying the landscape for potential fits — and considering Bichette’s below-average arm — a slide to second seemed more likely.

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Or not. All reports indicate Bichette is indeed going to man the hot corner for the Mets, a position at which he has zero professional innings in the majors or minors. Shortstop was obviously not happening; that Francisco Lindor fellow is still pretty good. Playing Bichette at third in deference to Semien, still an elite defender at second base and a familiar face for Bichette, who shared the infield with him in Toronto in 2021, seems reasonable.

But it’s an enormous bet on Bichette’s work ethic and the coaching infrastructure, including new bench coach and noted infield guru Kai Correa, to turn him into a reliable defender at a brand new position. And the pressure is only heightened by the fact that another such process is taking place with Polanco, who is expected to handle first base for the first time in his career. That these transitions will both occur after president of baseball operations David Stearns touted an organizational priority to improve on defense this offseason is questionable but certainly intriguing.

Beyond Bichette’s outlook on defense, there’s also the matter of the player he’s displacing. That’s 26-year-old Brett Baty, who, after a slow burn of development since his first-round selection by the Mets out of a Texas high school in 2019, finally broke through as a solid big-league regular in 2025. Baty posted a 111 wRC+ while bouncing between second and third last season, and the Mets were not shy about their intention to give him the third-base job entering 2026.

Bichette’s arrival obviously changes that and raises the possibility that Baty could emerge as a candidate to fill the hole in left field that has not been addressed post-Nimmo. Baty does have some experience there, having made 29 starts in left in the minors across 2021 and 2022, but that’s hardly an ideal plan, considering the previously stated intentions of improving on defense. Still, if New York plans to keep Baty, he could appear in left while providing some insurance for Bichette’s and Polanco’s transitions at third and first. Otherwise, Baty suddenly becomes an intriguing trade candidate, as he would seem overqualified to be a luxury bench option. That doesn’t even begin to address the paths to playing time for young infielders Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña.

The point is the Mets have a lot to sort out. So if there’s one other thing to take away from this stunning Bichette signing, it’s that more Mets moves are on the way. A crowded infield just got more crowded, and the outfield remains remarkably unsettled outside of Soto. The rotation has not been addressed whatsoever. The bullpen still looks thin despite the additions of Devin Williams and Luke Weaver.

The Mets will probably look significantly different by the time they report to Port St. Lucie, Florida, in a month. The Bichette signing is merely the latest installment in a full-fledged transformation of the roster — one that is still very much in progress.

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Source: “AOL Sports”