After a disappointing 2023 campaign, the Mets had a lot of work to do over the offseason, but like several other teams across the league, they largely stood pat for much of free agency. They did beef up their lineup with the addition of J.D. Martinez right ahead of the start of the regular season, but there's already been a somewhat surprising roster move made involving him.
Martinez signed a one-year, $12 million deal with New York on Thursday, giving him a very short amount of time to get ready for the season. With that in mind, the Mets have decided to option Martinez to the minors to start the season in order to give him time to get back into shape, meaning New York will be without their new slugger for the first few games of the season
Via Mike Puma:
“The Mets will option J.D. Martinez to the minor leagues to build up at-bats, meaning he won't be with the team for at least the first 10 days of the season.”
Mets giving J.D. Martinez time to get into the swing of things
Given how long Martinez's free agency dragged on for, he has ended up missing pretty much all of Spring Training, and while he kept himself ready for when he signed with a team, he still needs time to ramp things up.
In a sense, he's basically going on a rehab stint in the minors in order to ensure that when he hits the field in the majors, he's ready to play at the highest level possible.
Considering how well Martinez played in 2023 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, it makes sense to wait and allow the veteran slugger to be fully ready for the upcoming campaign.
It seemed like Martinez was regressing after a quiet 2022 season, but he had a fantastic bounce-back year with the Dodgers (.271 BA, 33 HR, 103 RBIs, .893 OPS) and was likely hoping to earn himself a bigger deal on the open market.
While Martinez didn't exactly receive a massive deal, he did get a decent one-year deal considering he's a full-time designated hitter nowadays. He now will slot in alongside fellow masher Pete Alonso and hope to provide him some support after he did most of the heavy lifting in New York's lineup on his own in 2023.
If both Martinez and Alonso can mash home runs for the Mets this season, they could be a dark-horse playoff contender in the National League East, even when considering the massive talent exodus they have endured over the past few months.
But for now, New York is taking it easy with their new star, and while this is a bit of an unorthodox move, if Martinez can enter the lineup and immediately start hitting, it will certainly end up being a worthwhile move.
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