Mets Acquire Jesse Winker

7:47AM: The trade has been officially announced.

TODAY, 7:25AM: The Nationals will be acquiring right-handed pitching prospect Tyler Stuart in the trade, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports (via X).  Stuart was a sixth-round pick in the 2022 draft, and he has a 3.96 ERA, 25.4% strikeout rate, and 5.6% walk rate in 84 innings for Double-A Binghampton this season.  The 6’9″ righty was a reliever at Southern Miss but has worked almost exclusively as a starter in his pro career, and MLB Pipeline (which ranks Stuart 17th in the Mets’ farm system) feels he’ll need to develop a third pitch beyond his solid slider and 94mph fastball in order to stick as a starting pitcher.

YESTERDAY: The Mets are poised to acquire outfielder Jesse Winker from the Nationals, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. As noted by Andrew Golden of The Washington Post, the deal is currently in place pending a physical. The return headed to D.C. in exchange for Winker’s services is not yet known.

Winker, 31 next month, was a first-round pick by the Reds back in 2012 and posted excellent numbers across five seasons with the club. From 2017 through 2021, Winker slashed .288/.385/.504 with a 132 wRC+ as the club’s regular left fielder, though he was generally protected from left-handed pitching during his years in Cincinnati. Even as he typically sat against southpaws, however, Winker’s ability to mash right-handed pitching earned him an All-Star nod back in 2021 when he posted a 148 wRC+ in 485 trips to the plate. Following the 2021 season, Winker found himself dealt to Seattle alongside Eugenio Suarez in a blockbuster that sent Justin Dunn, Jake Fraley, and Brandon Williamson to Cincinnati.

Upon departing the Reds, however, Winker began to struggle. A down season in Seattle where he posted a wRC+ of just 108 alongside a career-low isolated slugging percentage led the Mariners to deal Winker back to the NL Central following the 2022 campaign, this time alongside Abraham Toro in order to land second baseman Kolten Wong from the Brewers. Winker’s time in Milwaukee represented a low point for him, as he battled neck injuries and struggled badly when healthy enough to take the field. While Winker walked at his typically strong 13.2% clip with the Brewers, he hit .198 while mustering just one home run in 197 trips to the plate, leaving him with a 65 wRC+ that was 35% worse than league average last year.

That disastrous 2023 campaign led Winker to sign with the rebuilding Nationals on a minor league deal in his first trip through free agency last winter, and Winker found himself selected to the club’s Opening Day roster. While splitting time between left field and DH for the Nationals, Winker has rebounded back to the level of offense that was standard for him in his days with the Reds. In 100 games with Washington this year, he’s hit an impressive .253/.372/.417 with 11 home runs, 14 stolen bases, and a fantastic 14.1% walk rate in 376 trips to the plate this year.

Winker’s production still comes predominantly against right-handed pitching, against whom he sports a 138 wRC+ on the year, but he’s improved substantially against southpaws this year to post a roughly average 93 wRC+ against them. That’s a major step up from his career year in 2021 when he posted a wRC+ of just 57 against lefties.

For the Mets, Winker appears unlikely to be an everyday player given the presence of J.D. Martinez as the club’s regular DH and Brandon Nimmo patrolling left field on an everyday basis. With usual center fielder Harrison Bader currently dealing with an ankle injury, it’s possible that Winker could see some starts in left field with Nimmo sliding over to center while Bader is injured. Both Nimmo and Winker also have sporadic experience in right field through their careers as well, meaning the Mets could look to install each into an outfield corner on either side of Bader while Starling Marte is on the injured list in a move that would likely push Jeff McNeil either out of the lineup or back onto the infield dirt.

Regardless of how often Winker figures to be in the Mets lineup, he’s sure to provide a boost to the club’s offense. DJ Stewart is currently being utilized as a defensively-limited bat off the bench in Queens but has delivered a wRC+ of just 95 with a .674 OPS against right-handed pitching. Winker’s 128 wRC+ and .834 OPS against right-handers both clear those marks easily, and it’s easy to imagine Winker being used in a similar role to the one Stewart has accumulated 184 trips to the plate in this year while bouncing between DH, the outfield corners, and even first base as needed.

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