Mets' pivot to Bo Bichette as their third baseman could be risky bet

As of Friday, the 2026 Mets dared to ask the boldest of baseball questions: What if every player on your roster was an infielder?

That might be overstating things a touch, but not by all that much.

After losing out on the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes Thursday night, president of baseball operations David Stearns pivoted with alacrity, reaching an agreement with shortstop Bo Bichette on a three-year, $126 million contract, a source confirmed. Another source said Bichette, who has never played a professional game at third base, will man that spot this season.

So to recap: The Mets, who went into the offseason with a renewed focus on run prevention, currently have: 1. Only two natural outfielders on their roster; 2. A shortstop playing third base; 3. A third baseman and a second baseman manning first — Mark Vientos (17 MLB games at the position) and Jorge Polanco (one).

None of this is to say that Bichette isn’t a good addition. He’s entering his age 28 season, hit .311 with 18 homers and 94 RBIs last year, lengthens the lineup and gives the Mets the impact righthanded hitter they desperately need.

But the signing also inadvertently underscores how far this team has had to divert from its original blueprint and how much further it has to go.

There’s no doubt that Tucker, who reportedly agreed to a jaw-dropping four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers, was overpaid. That doesn’t erase the fact that the Mets are taking a lot of risks with their backup plan.

They’ve yet to secure a front-line starter and there is little guarantee that they’ll do so, which means they’re coupling middling pitching with a defensive alignment that looks as if it were put together with a spackle knife and the power of belief.

Bichette is a below-average defensive shortstop and theoretically could perform better at third, but that becomes more of a gamble when you don’t have a stabilizing presence on the other corner of the infield.

The outfield is its own circus. Juan Soto, for all of his offensive prowess, is a liability in rightfield and looked better when he played six games in leftfield for the Yankees. Tyrone Taylor has a fantastic glove but hit .223 last year. Unless the Mets sign someone else, they have to hope that prospect Carson Benge, who began last season with High-A Brooklyn, can continue his meteoric rise and contribute to the major-league roster.

The other piece of the puzzle is Brett Baty, and not a small piece, either. Now that he’s been ousted from third base, the natural move would be to send him to left. That, at least, is intriguing. Baty, who took great pains to improve at third last year, can focus more on his offense if he’s playing a less defensively taxing position.

A source said the team discussed moving him to left early in his career, believing that his skills and strong arm could play well there.

Still, it’s yet another player out of position. Versatility is great, but too much of it leaves a lot of room for failure.

One thing seems certain, though: This offseason will prove to be a true test of Stearns’ creativity, adaptability and skill.

Edwin Diaz wasn’t supposed to jump ship for the Dodgers, Tucker wasn’t supposed to command a higher AAV than Soto and the Mets — a premier destination last year — weren’t supposed to go into this offseason with the albatross of a historic collapse around their neck.

All of it has led to this truly curious position. The Mets have Steve Cohen’s billions and the cachet that comes with playing in New York, but they still somehow don’t carry the heft of a team that has both at their disposal, at least not yet.

In a world in which the Dodgers exist, this franchise, like most of the others, will have to figure things out the hard way.

And maybe that’s fine. Maybe there’s something to be said about being able to whirl and pivot your way out of difficult positions, building a roster in a manner that will be either brilliant or disastrous, but never anything in between.

The Mets essentially backed themselves into this corner when they blew up their core. They did so with the belief that, no matter what, they would figure it out along the way.

Plan A didn’t work, and frankly, we might be at Plan D at this point.

Few things go as expected over the course of 162 games, and now there’s nothing left to do except embrace the chaos.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.