Could the first major move of the Steve Cohen era in New York be to lure a star player away from a division-rival?
Ken Davidoff of The New York Post reports that the Mets have shown interest in veteran slugger Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna is very familiar with the National League East, having spent 2020 with the Atlanta Braves and the first five years of his career with the Miami Marlins.
After declining a qualifying offer from the St. Louis Cardinals last winter, Ozuna inked a one-year/$18 million deal to re-establish himself with the Braves prior to the 2020 season. What transpired was a career-year, as he slashed .338/.431/.636 with a 1.067 OPS in the pandemic-shortened season. Ozuna led the National League in home runs (18), RBIs (56) and total bases (145).
While any team would like to add Ozuna to their lineup, Davidoff does point out that Ozuna would be a bit of a curious fit with the Mets. He was primarily a DH for the Braves this past season, and we don't know if the DH will return to the National League in 2021. Even if it does, the Mets would seemingly like to use either Dom Smith or Pete Alonso in that role on a fairly regular basis. The guess here is that if the Mets signed Ozuna, it would be to play left field, leaving Jeff McNeil to shift to third base for the bulk of his starts in 2021.
Considering that the Braves finished a victory away from reaching the World Series, it stands to reason that they would like to retain Ozuna. General manager Alex Anthopoulos said as much after the conclusion of the season. Still, given the success that the Braves have had over the last two seasons signing Ozuna and Josh Donaldson to one-year, prove-it deals, they may want to go back to that well this winter.
This time around, Ozuna is likely to get much more in the way of long-term certainty than he did last offseason. Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors projects that Ozuna, who turned 30 last week, will land a four-year/$72 million deal this winter. If he leaves, the Braves won't receive any draft compensation, because Ozuna wasn't eligible to receive a qualifying offer after being extended one last offseason by the Cardinals.
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