David Stearns is obsessed with the floor. While fans spend their winter dreaming of 500-foot moonshots from Juan Soto or the high-octane arrival of Bo Bichette, the Mets’ front office is busy in the basement. They are fortifying the foundation.
The signing of Grae Kessinger to a minor league deal, reported by Mike Puma of the New York Post, isn’t going to sell a single season ticket, but it’s the kind of move that wins a random Tuesday in July when your starting shortstop has a tight hamstring and the Triple-A depth is looking thin.
The Bloodline and the Bench
Kessinger isn’t some random lottery ticket found in a bargain bin. He’s got the pedigree, the grandson of Cubs legend Don Kessinger and nephew of Keith. More importantly for the Mets, he’s a former second-round pick who was practically born on a diamond.
He hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in the big leagues, sporting a rough .131 career average over 61 at-bats. That number is ugly, sure. But Stearns isn’t looking for a silver slugger here. He’s looking for a guy who can stand at any of the four infield spots without looking like he’s never seen a glove before.
The kid has a career .335 on-base percentage in the minors. That tells you he understands the strike zone, even if the power hasn’t quite arrived yet. Last year was a weird one for him, bouncing from Houston to Arizona and eventually getting cut loose while dealing with an injury in Reno.
He hit 16 homers back in Double-A in 2022, so there’s a flicker of life in that bat. If he can recapture that stroke in Syracuse, he becomes a very valuable insurance policy for a team that has World Series aspirations.
Insurance for the Inevitable
Look at the current Mets roster. You have Bo Bichette adjusting to a massive new contract and not that many certainties beyond him and Francisco Lindor. Behind them, it’s a lot of “what ifs.”
The Mets have built a powerhouse, but powerhouses are brittle. One bad slide or one awkward throw can turn a pennant race into a disaster. Kessinger is the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option. He’s 28 years old, which in baseball terms is the absolute peak of “now or never” territory.
It is easy to mock these minor league invites, but depth is the new currency in MLB these days. The Phillies and Braves aren’t going away, and the Mets need to be at least 40 men deep to survive the 162-game grind. Kessinger provides a professional at-bat and defensive flexibility that keeps you from having to play a prospect who isn’t ready.
He’s a stabilizer. If we never see him in Queens, it means the stars stayed healthy. If we do see him, Stearns is betting that the pedigree and the patience finally pay off under the lights of Citi Field.