NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Mets are still searching for positional help this offseason, but it more than likely won’t come at third base.
Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and to some degree Mark Vientos, the opportunity is yours.
Third base is for one or more of the kids.
New president of baseball operations David Stearns said last month at the GM meetings that he would be comfortable entering next season with Baty, Mauricio and Vientos as the third-base possibilities.
On Monday at the winter meetings, he was more resolute, saying he isn’t pursuing external options for the position.
“I think it is important for us as an organization to learn about our younger players and to provide them with opportunity at the major league level,” Stearns said. “That doesn’t have to be all on Opening Day, but over the course of the year we’ve got to learn about these guys.”
Such a pronouncement rules out the possibility of trading for players who may be available such as Alex Bregman and Willy Adames or signing Matt Chapman.
Stearns declined to name a third-base front-runner, saying there could be a competition in spring training for the job.
Joey Wendle, signed last week to a one-year contract worth $2 million, could see action at third base, but Stearns said the veteran infielder is not a candidate for a starting job and will serve in a utility role.
Baty became the primary third baseman early last season but struggled, prompting the Mets to demote him to Triple-A Syracuse in August.
The 24-year-old produced a .212/.275/.323 slash line with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 108 games.
Mauricio is receiving action at third base in the Dominican Winter League after getting limited chances at the position last season.
The Mets also view the 22-year-old as a possibility to play second base.
Vientos, who turns 24 next week, has struggled defensively — but his raw power is intriguing enough for the Mets to keep him in the third-base mix.
“We’re going to get into the season and performance and health ends up changing so much,” Stearns said. “I am just staying cognizant as we go through the offseason that we don’t want to freeze these guys out and we have to learn about them.
“You look at the composition of winning baseball teams and there generally is this pretty good mix of established veterans and younger players who can provide some energy and spontaneity to a group and I think we have the potential to have that.”
Stearns said the plan is to keep Jeff McNeil in a super-utility role in which he would move between second base and the outfield.
That has left the Mets searching for another outfielder — Michael A. Taylor is among the free agents the Mets have pursued, according to an industry source — to provide coverage.
The Mets also could use another bat, with the DH spot in question, and could look toward names such as Jorge Soler and Teoscar Hernandez.
Wendle, 33, played last season with the Marlins for whom he owned a .212/.248/.306 slash line with two homers and 20 RBIs in 112 games.
“I think Joey fits a lot of the things we have been talking about in terms of he’s a very good defender, he is a very good base runner and he also brings an element to our clubhouse of a winning player,” Stearns said.
“He brings a cultural element that I think is important and especially for some of these roles that aren’t starting every day. It’s very important to have guys who understand what that is like and when they are not in the lineup can be very positive influences for the rest of the team and Joey certainly checks those boxes.”