Mets lineup versus righty pitchers should stick with J.D. Martinez batting third

The New York Mets might be overthinking things with the lineup. In Friday’s sleepy loss against the Seattle Mariners, they batted Jesse Winker third and J.D. Martinez fifth. It made sense with a righty on the mound against a Mariners team not flush with lefties in the bullpen. Having Brandon Nimmo and Winker back-to-back between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso wasn’t a bad strategy, but it breaks up what made the team so successful for over a month.

Speaking of sleepy, how did Bill Pullman land himself in two early 1990s romantic comedies with the word “Sleep” in the title? A cast member of Sleepless in Seattle, he was elevated into more of a co-star role in While You Were Sleeping. Before you insist this never happened, remember Bill Pullman is different from Bill Paxton. There’s a good formula to remember the difference, but this is about the Mets lineup and not 1990s filmography.

Martinez hasn’t been bad against righties this year. Moving him down to fifth in the lineup is an unnecessary yet understandable change. It favors analytics but goes against feel.

The Mets should simplify the lineup by not moving J.D. Martinez around too much

Winker has not hit well third in the lineup. Including his time with the Washington Nationals, he’s slashing .225/.369/.324 with 3 home runs and 16 RBI in 178 plate appearances. It is the spot he is most accustomed to being in this year. However, his second most common place in the order has him batting fifth. Winker was very good there, slashing .278/.391/.463 with a pair of home runs in only 64 plate appearances.

The spot in the order is meaningless until it actually does matter. This year, it has mattered for a lot of Mets players.

Martinez has done most of his damage against lefties but still holds a .251/.323/.427 slash line against righties. Out of the number three spot, he’s slashing .261/.364/.455 with 7 of his 12 home runs. This comes in 198 total chances. He has been around the same when hitting fifth for the Mets this year with his weakest numbers coming when he hits fourth.

We can only look at numbers so much and try to solve the puzzle of what the lineup should be. Would we rather have Martinez or Winker in the protection spot for Alonso? Do you double up on the lefties with Nimmo and Winker or Winker and Jeff McNeil (if he remains batting sixth?).

The two share an identical .260 batting average this year with Winker owning a superior .371 OBP. He could probably lap Martinez on the bases if the two were in an endless race. His power production this season has been almost on-par.

Continuity has favored the Mets this season, though. They wouldn’t dream of moving Lindor out of the leadoff spot. Why mess with the next three spots in the order unless you have a very specific reason for it?

Martinez hasn’t been as cold as some would have you believe. Slashing .268/.380/.488 over the last 15 days while leading the team with 13 RBI despite playing in only 12 games, give the seasoned veteran in a spot he is used to and use the number five spot on Winker whose job will be to clean up any men left on base or resume traffic.