The Mets could be in the market for a DH in 2025.
The Mets are in the market for a designated hitter for the upcoming season…sort of. It’s not as dire a need for the team as a starting pitcher or corner outfielder, but as of now, there is no obvious choice the Mets can pencil in at the position and expect positive production.
This is more or less where the Mets were standing at this point last year, where up until a late-March signing of Martinez the club was signaling that journeyman DJ Stewart could be taking a healthy majority of the team’s DH plate appearances. But in signing Martinez, the Mets got one of a handful of bonafide, no-question DHs still left in the league—a cerebral slugger who could mash when healthy, but not much else.
And for a while, Martinez gave the Mets more than expected. Through June 22nd, Martinez slashed .291/.361/.511 over 204 plate appearances, leading the club in wRC+ (146) despite missing most of April while ramping up for the season.
Martinez fell closer to the median from that point forward, however. He put up a .620 OPS in his final 71 regular season games, possibly dealing with undisclosed injuries or a case of the olds. He was even less effective in the playoffs, managing just four singles and no extra-base hits in 24 plate appearances. His six walks rewarded a patient approach, but the Mets needed something more than “one base at a time” from their designated hitter, and ever-loyal manager Carlos Mendoza even deferred away from him through most of the National League Championship Series loss against the Dodgers.
And so here the Mets are again, lacking a clear DH choice for 2025 but likely in a strong position to bring back Martinez if they wanted to.
So, should they?
Many fans watching Martinez from August onward would likely say no, and it’s hard to argue against that. The primary function of a designated hitter is to hit, and the last we saw of Martinez didn’t give fans much confidence that he could do it, anymore. The list of teams willing to sign a 37-year-old designated hitter to a multi-million dollar deal is pretty short, even if the last two years of Martinez have demonstrated a respectably high ceiling.
If there’s a chance the Mets bring back Martinez, it might be because he serves a role greater than that of “DH.” Mark Vientos credited much of his success this season to the guidance that Martinez provided, which more than justified Martinez’s role on the team. That might also be enough to land him a second deal.
If Martinez were to return, it could conceivably be in a hybrid role of “platoon DH/unofficial hitting coach” instead of “full-time DH.” He can probably still hit lefties, as he posted an .836 OPS against them in 138 plate appearances, but that would likely mean the Mets would have to find a strong-side platoon mate to get the most out of Martinez’s best skills.
The question the Mets front office faces: Is a league-average hitter (who can’t play anywhere else on the field) and occasional hitting instructor worth a roster spot? For a team with World Series aspirations like the Mets, that sort of versatility may be valuable, especially watching a veteran-laden team like the Dodgers finish ahead of younger and faster competition.
But in a landscape where teams often treat their DH strategies with an “anything goes” type of mentality, the Mets conceivably have plenty of DH options heading into next season. This is where the “sort of” from the intro comes in—the Mets need a DH, but they don’t necessarily need someone who can only DH, which is why the value Martinez shows has to go beyond the batter’s box for him to be a worthwhile candidate.
That could be enough for the Mets (or any team) to consider him a valuable addition to the roster, but it’s no slam dunk. Martinez’s on-field value (and market) will likely be smaller this offseason than it was last offseason, though it’s hard to imagine one of the best hitters of the last decade with an above-average 2024 going without work in 2025.
It could be in Queens, though it could be not. And it might be a decent signing, but it’s hard to tell at this point. Such is the quandary of J.D. Martinez.