New York Mets fans have already lived through a noisy offseason of position talk, and 2026 has only turned some of that into background noise. Bo Bichette’s move from shortstop to third base has worked out well enough, even if the standard is simply avoiding the disaster he was at his old spot.
Jorge Polanco’s try at first base went nowhere. And Mark Vientos at first base, while less surprising, still isn’t going to be the answer.
That kind of churn usually doesn’t stop with one winter. The Mets are going to keep shuffling pieces around, and before their current contracts are up, three players look lined up for a new primary position.
Juan Soto is the clearest candidate to end up at first base. It’s the kind of move that feels inevitable for an outfielder with enough bat to stick anywhere and enough wear on his body to make the transition sensible.
The exact timing is still fuzzy, but multiple calf injuries in 2026 point to a player who is no longer immune to the grind. A gradual shift makes the most sense, maybe just a small taste in 2027 or 2028 before the Mets start mixing him in there more regularly.
How much that happens will depend in part on what Soto wants, and the Mets have made it clear they’ll do whatever they can to keep him happy.
Francisco Lindor is also headed for a new home, just not while he’s still playing at shortstop every day. He isn’t going to finish his Mets run as their starting shortstop, even if that’s where he has spent his entire major league career.
Second base or third base feels like the likely landing spot, though the roster around him may end up deciding that more than anything else. The Mets will probably keep him at short a little too long before finally asking him to learn something new.
And the warning signs are already there: five more years remain after the current season, and Lindor has looked like a declining defender this year. He has 10 errors this season, including another one on Tuesday, and he has also been lucky to avoid a few more, including one the day before when a ball skipped over him.
The old Gold Glove version is not the player on the field right now.
Marcus Semien is the third name to watch, and his path may arrive before Soto’s. He has taken several steps backward at second base in 2026 and has looked every bit his age.
First base is the obvious next stop for a middle infielder in that spot, and while Semien probably won’t become the Mets’ everyday first baseman in terms of total at-bats, he could wind up playing more there than anywhere else before his New York time is done. The Mets have too many middle infield prospects and not nearly enough first base answers to keep him from sliding over eventually.
In Other News...
Mets Prospect Elian Pena Is Starting To Justify The Hype
Elian Pena arrived in the Mets system with plenty of attention attached to him, and for good reason. The 18-year-old left-handed hitting shortstop from the Dominican Republic signed in 2025 for a franchise-record $5 million international bonus, a level of investment that immediately put him on the radar as one of the organizations most important long-term bets. After a slow start in the Dominican Summer League, though, Pena has begun to look more like the player the Mets thought they were getting.
His improvement has already earned him a move up to High-A Brooklyn, a notable step for a player still early in his pro career. Mets officials have pointed to his work ethic and defensive progress as reasons for the optimism, and his rise has helped solidify his status as one of the teams top prospects. The next question is how quickly the bat continues to come along, because that will go a long way toward determining just how high his ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]
Jared Young Just Changed A Mets Problem No One Saw Coming
Jared Young arrived in Queens without much expectation of a major role, but he has spent the season becoming one of the more important pieces on the Mets roster. In 91 games, he has hit .265 with eight home runs and 35 RBIs, production that has made him the clubs primary first baseman and shifted the conversation around a spot that once looked far less settled.
Andy Green and Jeff Albert have both made clear they believe Young has earned their trust, and there is a growing sense the Mets can plan around him going forward. What makes his rise more notable is how little it seemed to be on the radar at the start, with Young now looking like a player who could stay in the mix well beyond this season. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Just Took A Flier On A Pitcher With Little Margin For Error
The Mets made a small roster shuffle this week, designating catcher Shawn Ross for assignment and claiming right-hander Cameron Weston off waivers from the Orioles. Weston was sent to Triple-A Syracuse, giving New York another arm to evaluate while it continues to juggle the 40-man roster and sort through depth options.
Weston arrives with some uneven recent results, including a high ERA at Triple-A, though he looked better in Double-A and gives the organization a chance to see whether theres more here than the numbers suggest. Ross, meanwhile, had been hitting .195 at Syracuse, so the move also reflects the Mets desire to keep turning over the edges of the roster in search of a more useful fit. [Read more 🡒]