NY Mets free agent meant to replace Brandon Nimmo is hurting the team as much as any

In terms of potential first base options for the New York Mets heading into this season, there was no shortage of options. Pete Alonso and a whole list of potential targets all made sense to grab a big mitt and become the team leader in putouts. No one could have reasonably predicted the Mets would go out and sign Jorge Polanco to a two-year deal worth $40 million to join the first base rotation. Projected stats heading into the year had Polanco putting up similar numbers to Brandon Nimmo.

Polanco has played only two games at the position, spending the bulk of his time as the team’s DH. He hasn’t hit much, hasn’t walked since the second game of the year after compiling an early 5 free passes. Everything about the start to his Mets tenure has been messy.

Added on top of it all is the lingering Achilles injury. The Mets have been faced with some early adversity with the injury bug, Juan Soto lost to a calf injury in his 8th game of the season being the biggest. With Polanco, the Mets have played it day-to-day. Sporadic days off thus far, trying to play through injury hasn’t worked out with Polanco clogging up the DH spot, not producing, and a good week-plus of trotting him out and maybe only making the situation worse. The latest on Polanco is that he may indeed need an IL stint.

An already questionable Mets free agent signing is growing into a bigger problem

The Mets don’t deserve to be dragged across concrete for refusing to put Polanco on the IL. Polanco doesn’t get all of the blame for trying to play through it either. There’s simply no finger pointing here. It’s just the situation they’re in. Maybe if Soto wasn't sidelined things would have gone differently.

Polanco has been injury-prone for much of his career. 104 games in 2022, 80 in 2023, and 118 in 2024 along with some questionable results all made this one of those free agent deals you had to dig through to truly understand. Was it bad to believe in what he accomplished with the Seattle Mariners last year? A huge drop in strikeouts led the charge as to why the Mets seemed to believe in him. A power surge, clutch hitting, and the ability to play other infield positions as a “just in case” all helped justify the deal upon the first impression.

None of it has come true with just one home run, a pair of RBI, and a swell K% no one really cares about because of the lack of actual hitting he has done. The Mets will be lucky to get 50 games from him at first base this year let alone any emergency appearances at other infield positions where he hasn’t rated well anyway.

Losing Polanco to the IL changes the look of the lineup, but might not actually hurt the team a whole lot. He isn’t producing any better than anyone else. A shot for a player like Ronny Mauricio for a more extended period might just be the Hail Mary this team needs. Of course, he’ll need to actually perform.

The Mets took one on the chin again on Wednesday versus the Los Angeles Dodgers with a game that got out-of-hand late. MJ Melendez had a pair of doubles in place of Polanco who would’ve been the DH otherwise.

As Brett Baty and Mark Vientos get the finger pointed at them, it’s Polanco who was supposed to stabilize the lineup. He and the Mets chose to battle through the Achilles’ and may soon need to pay for it with a lengthier absence that could wash away weeks.

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