Yesterday the Mets added Roger Bernadina to help bolster their outfield depth at the Triple-A level but I think they need to add one more player that has experience at first base. Right now they have Marc Krauss who has 192 career games at first and over 500 in the outfield who should start with the Las Vegas 51’s.

First base options that could come on Minor League deal:

• Lars Anderson – Former Top Prospect of the Red Sox and #17 in all of baseball according to Baseball America in 2009 played most of 2015 at Double-A for the Dodgers. He hit .247/.374/.416 with 34 doubles, 14 homeruns, and 65 RBI for the Tulsa Drillers. He played 130 games  at first base, two in left field, and actually pitched in four games spanning 4.1 innings last season. He made his Major League debut in 2010 with the Sox at age 22 and has gone 8 for 57 in his big league career. The left-handed hitter did well vs righties last year hitting .267/.394/.453 with 69 walks compared to 58 strikeouts.

• Hunter Morris – The former 4th round pick is coming off his worst pro season in large part due to numerous injuries that saw him be put on the DL three sepearate times during the 2015 season. He hit only .141/.182/.181 in 149 at bats between Double-A and Triple-A in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. He did have three straight years of at least 20 homeruns starting in 2011. He had a monster year in 2012 with the AA Huntsville Stars when he hit .303/.357/.563 with 40 doubles, 28 homeruns, and 113 RBI. The left-handed hitter has been primarily a first baseman with six game at third base and 13 games in the outfield in the minors.
• Neftali Soto – The 26-year old is a former third round pick of the Cincinatti Reds that made his Major League debut in 2013 going 0 for 12. He is another guy who has struggled since having a career year, his came in 2011 when he hit .278/.333/.576 with 31 homeruns in 396 at bats between AA & AAA. The right-handed hitter has hit .267/.326/.395 in 372 games at the Triple-A level. He has played 429 career games at first, 265 at third, and 36 at shortstop. His strong Caribbean Series (.375, 5 RBI in 24 PA) heated up the market for him with the Nationals showing interest.

• Kila Ka’aihue – The 31-year old veteran is coming off a bad 2015 season (.642 OPS in AAA) but has 203 minor league homeruns and 15 more in the big leagues. The big lefty-hitter has a career .221/.305/.382 slash line in 411 MLB at bats with his last experience coming in 2012 with the A’s. He has played over 1,200 games at first base during his professional career. Kila is a .263/.386/.457 batter in the minor leagues with his best season coming in 2008 when he hit 37 homeruns and knocked in 100.

Other options that could fit the Mets need include veteran Dan Johnson, and a trio of players that have played in the Mets sytem before in Matt Clark, Vince Belnome, and Brock Peterson.

The 51’s also have guys like Johnny Monell, T.J. Rivera, and Nevin Ashley who played some first base in the minors without it being their primary position. The other option could be to move Jayce Boyd back to first base after his one-year experiment in left field that really didn’t go well. Before last season, every minor league inning he played in the field was at first where he is a good defender.

The Mets will be using some combo of Kevin Plawecki, Wilmer Flores, and less likely Eric Campbell at the Major League level to back up Lucas Duda. The inexperience of Plawecki and Flores is the reason I think the Mets should seek out a veteran on a minor league deal as some added insurance.