It’s not worth dunking on the NY Mets for letting $1 million free agent leave

Of all the things the New York Mets have done this offseason, letting Starling Marte leave isn’t one of those massive mistakes. Despite the .306 batting average through 39 trips to the plate, suggesting they should have brought him back to be a part-time DH is hindsight x20. Their plan of having Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Jorge Polanco share the DH and first base duties hasn’t aged well and is no longer in practice.

You could fill a small nation with the number of mistakes made by the Mets this offseason. Who they added, who they let go, and the players they passed on in free agency are abundant. Marte, while off to a fine start with the Kansas City Royals, isn’t one of those failures to mock.

Starling Marte wouldn’t have been the difference-maker the Mets need right now

Not all .306 batting averages are built the same. You’re mistaken if all you do is look at predictive statistics or weigh blue vs. red on someone’s Baseball Savant Page. In Marte’s case, it’s a whole lot of early luck that jumps out.

The Royals haven’t stuck with Marte exclusively as a DH, actually getting a fine performance out of him in limited action. He has been challenged, adding three right field assists through his first 9 games at the position. The arm still plays well while the range has yet to actually register anything good or bad in the small sample.

We should know better than to believe Marte will keep up with a .306 season. Now 37, signs of breaking down were apparent over the last few years. Just as the Royals may begin to possibly give him more playing time, we know the injury bug is going to knock him down.

Compared to some of the other Mets players who’ve been present on the team recently, Marte is having a really good year. But he’s also not really doing much more than Austin Slater whose .278 batting average in 18 plate appearances for the Mets only recently dropped below .300 after two hitless at-bats on Tuesday.

Marte’s batting average is fine and defense has improved. Otherwise, it has been a very minimal performance. 3 doubles among his 11 hits, he has only 2 RBI and 28.2% K rate. 21.9% was the highest he reached in a Mets uniform. He has walked only once all year and he is 0 for 1 in stolen base attempts.

Marte was not the guy for the Mets. Even if he was popular within the clubhouse and specifically a buddy of Juan Soto’s, re-signing him would have had him on a short leash from the start. This wasn’t a financial or personal decision. This was baseball. Marte can prove the Mets wrong for letting him go. However, an early barrage of mostly singles and numbers to suggest it’s a matter of time confirms the choice they made.

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