Mets in talks with Adrian Gonzalez

The Mets are “in serious discussions” with Adrian Gonzalez, according to Bob Nightengale. That report was backed up by Jon Heyman, as well.

Gonzalez and the Mets were linked just under a month ago when reports surfaced that the team had reached out to the player. Once one of the better-hitting first basemen in the game, Gonzalez was traded by the Dodgers to the Braves after the 2017 season and released by the Braves two days later. He’s coming off easily the worst season of his major league career, as he made just 252 plate appearances and hit .242/.287/.355 with a 69 wRC+ and an ugly -1.1 fWAR.

Things went significantly better for Gonzalez in 2016, as he hit .285/.349/.435 with a 111 wRC+ and 1.2 fWAR, though those numbers are all a far cry from what he posted before then. For his career, the 35-year-old Gonzalez has hit .288/.359/.488 with 311 home runs and a 128 wRC+. He’s in the season of a seven-year, $154 million contract and would need to be paid just the league minimum by any team that picked him up since the Braves released him.

Despite the negative reactions that such a signing would probably generate, bringing Gonzalez into camp on a no-risk salary wouldn’t be a terrible idea in isolation. At the very least, it would give Dominic Smith some form of competition for the Opening Day gig at first. That’s not a bad thing considering how mightily Smith struggled at the plate and in the field in his first brief stint in the majors last fall.