Before Mookie Betts was traded from the Red Sox to the Dodgers, the Mets "made numerous calls and exchanged several various concepts" with Boston, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
According to Sherman, the Mets were unwilling to give up Jeff McNeil (who was "integral' to the Red Sox) in any deal for Betts due to the fact that Betts only had one year of team control left.
Instead, the Mets offered packages that revolved around one of Brandon Nimmo or J.D Davis plus one of prospects Andres Gimenez or Ronny Mauricio, according to Sherman.
SNY's Andy Martino reported that the pursuit for Betts never grew serious because they would have needed to find taker for Jed Lowrie or Yoenis Cespedes in order to make a deal work.
The Sox wound up trading Betts to the Dodgers in a deal that also brought David Price (and $48 million of the $96 million he's owed through 2022) to Los Angeles, with Boston receiving Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong from LA. The Dodgers also sent Kenta Maeda, catcher Jair Camargo and cash to the Twins, with Minnesota sending pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol, outfielder Luke Raley, and a 2020 Competitive Round B draft pick to Los Angeles.
While Mauricio is widely viewed as a top 100 prospect in baseball and Davis (under control for five more seasons) could be highly valuable to a team that wants to use him in left field or potentially at first base, the package the Red Sox were eventually able to get for Betts was clearly superior to the Mets proposals reported above.
As the Mets engaged the Red Sox on Betts, Sherman reported that they were more serious in their pursuit of Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Mets would've likely had to part with Amed Rosario and two top prospects in exchange for Lindor, who has two years of team control remaining and is not expected to sign an extension with Cleveland.
Getting back to Betts, the Mets' trade interest is notable, especially considering the whispers that started earlier this offseason about a potential free agent pursuit after this season.
With the Mets having a significant amount of money coming off the payroll after the 2020 season, a pursuit of Betts via free agency in the offseason is certainly possible. But it's been a long time since the Mets have given a massive free agent deal out in terms of both years and dollars, and that's what Betts is going to get.