“Candelita” is likely to be looking for playing time the Mets can’t (and shouldn’t) promise him.
When the Mets signed Jose Iglesias to a minor league deal in early December 2023, it was pretty much the 34-year-old’s last chance at continuing his major league career. He had just spent all of 2023 in the minors, toiling around a few organizations who never gave him a call-up, and had not had a season worth more than 2 fWAR since 2014.
When he didn’t make the team out of spring, Iglesias was ready to hang it up and go home, but the Mets promised him that if they needed another backup infielder in 2024, he would get the call, so he stuck around and saw it through. And thank goodness he did.
A year later, and everything has changed for Iglesias, on the field and off. He is no longer just lucky to have a job, nor is he just a guy who became a relative afterthought and flamed out at 32. Iglesias left an indelible mark on the 2024 Mets, certain to never be forgotten now, and his career is alive and well again.
On the field, he hit a stunning .337/.381/.448 in 85 games, putting up a career-high 2.5 fWAR. Off the field, he became a favorite amongst both teammates and fans for his catchy Latin pop single “OMG,” which became the team’s unofficial anthem throughout the summer and into the summer. The success of that song boosted his star in the Latin pop scene so much that he was able to work with Pitbull on a remix released in October.
After that storybook season fit for a movie, the 34-year-old now hits the free agent market again, this time not just hoping to get a job, but looking to really cash in.
While it would certainly be nice to have Iglesias back in a utility or platoon role in 2025, it doesn’t seem like he is intent to settle for a part-time role or another one-year contract, nor should he. In fact, Iglesias just switched agencies and hired Scott Boras, which is not a move you make if you expect to return to the team you played for on a cheap contract just for the vibes. He likely wants to be a starting infielder again for somebody, and he probably wants a multi-year contract to do it. He has discussed how he felt baseball did him wrong in the past, and this certainly looks like his chance to get his just and finally land that big multi-year free agent deal he’s never been able to get before.
The Mets, however, are probably not in a position to offer that to Iglesias. While there are job openings on the infield—Mark Vientos can certainly move off third and there’s a big ol’ question mark at second base—the Mets, coming off an NLCS appearance, are back in “go for it” mode, which means full-time starting infield positions probably should not be guaranteed to soon-to-be 35-year-old career journeymen infielders who had a nice 85 games. And signing a player of that ilk to a multi-year deal would not be consistent with David Stearns’s preferred team building strategy, either. He’d probably much rather find the next Jose Iglesias, either on the market or internally.
What’s more, there’s nothing in Iglesias’s batted ball data to indicate that his 137 wRC+ was anywhere near sustainable, either. He hit the ball a little harder than the last time he was in the big leagues in 2022, but not significantly. His average exit velocity was still only 85.8 MPH, which is actually below his career average. He did not do much damage on contact and his approach was fairly awful; he sported just a 4.1% walk rate and a 12th-percentile SEAGER. We saw his over-aggressiveness start to be exploited in the playoffs by the pitching of the Phillies and Dodgers, resulting in his getting benched in the NLCS.
His batted ball spray was also pretty similar to his standard output, as his LD%, FB%, and GB% were all within 2% of his career average. There’s just nothing in the underlying numbers to support his .382 BABIP, which was 67 points higher than his career mark.
Whomever signs Iglesias will probably still get a shiny batting average and solid defense at multiple positions, because he’s always been able to do that. But there’s not much to indicate he’s suddenly anything more than the nice, 1-2 WAR role player that he’s been his entire career, either. Paying him to be more than that based off his 2024 BABIP is probably ill-advised, especially when you consider the Mets can probably get most of what Iglesias is likely to provide offensively and similar defensive flexibility out of someone like Luisangel Acuña for much cheaper.
Of course, there does exist a possibility for Iglesias to be brought back in to reform his second base platoon with Jeff McNeil as a stopgap option until more permanent solutions like Jett Williams can emerge from the farm system to take over the keystone. But once again, Iglesias hiring Boras indicates he has bigger plans than that right now.
At the moment, the most likely scenario for an Iglesias return to Queens appears to be one where he finds himself unsigned late into the offseason, forcing him to lower his ask and accept a utility/bench role again. In that case, he could come back for a Mets reunion if he decides he liked it here and wants to perform more post-game concerts. Otherwise, it’s more likely we’ll have to say adiós to Candelita for now and leave the 2024 memories in 2024.