By Adeniyi Precious 
A juicy MLB trade rumor is making waves and might give the Yankees or Mets a shot at upgrading their infield with a top-tier defender from the National League.
This offseason, the Yankees and Mets have been busy. They even went head-to-head in a massive bidding war for Juan Soto, which the Mets ended up winning. But that hasn’t slowed either team down.
The Yankees signed All-Star pitcher Max Fried and snagged former MVPs Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger, while also trading for elite closer Devin Williams. Meanwhile, the Mets have been addressing their rotation and making smaller roster moves.
Despite their activity, both teams still have some gaps in the infield. Enter Ke’Bryan Hayes—a young, defensive wizard from the Pittsburgh Pirates—who might be on the move.
Ke’Bryan Hayes’ 2024 season in a nutshell
.233 batting average
4 home runs
25 RBIs
Rumor has it Hayes wants out of Pittsburgh. While the Pirates deny anything’s imminent, if there’s even a sliver of truth to this, both the Yankees and Mets could jump on the opportunity.
For the Yankees, Jazz Chisholm is currently holding down third base, but they’d rather move him to second. Hayes isn’t a power hitter, but his speed and elite defense would be a big boost. Fun fact: his dad, Charlie Hayes, used to play for the Yanks.
For the Mets, Mark Vientos is solid at third, but with Pete Alonso potentially on the way out, Vientos might shift to first base. That leaves room for Hayes to pair up with Francisco Lindor and create a lockdown left side of the infield.
Even better, Hayes is locked into a very team-friendly contract—$70 million over eight years, with an average of $7-8 million per season. Both teams have the prospects to make this happen, so it’ll be interesting to see if a deal goes down this winter.
Stay tuned—it looks like the Yankees and Mets aren’t done wheeling and dealing just yet!