The Mets announced that outfielder J.D. Martinez has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, with infielder Zack Short designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Martinez, 36, signed a one-year deal with the club last month. That deal came about very late in the offseason, not being made official until March 23, when Spring Training was effectively done. Players with at least five years of service time cannot be optioned to the minors without their consent, but Martinez agreed to be sent down since he missed the spring and needed to get some at-bats.
His return should bolster the Mets lineup, as he is a .287/.350/.524 hitter in his career and is coming off a strong season with the Dodgers. He seemed to be selling out for power last year, as his 31.1% strikeout rate was a career high by four points, but he also hit 33 home runs and slashed .271/.321/.572. Manager Carlos Mendoza indicated earlier this week that the club was planning to activate Martinez today, which was now come to fruition.
Martinez was already on the 40-man roster but the Mets had limited options in terms of getting him onto the active roster. The only optionable position players currently on the squad are Brett Baty and DJ Stewart. Baty has been the club’s everyday third baseman this year while Stewart has been great at the plate. Going back to his time with the club last year, he’s hit 14 home runs in 240 plate appearances. He has struck out at a hefty 28.7% clip but also drawn walks 10.4% of the time.
That left the Mets having to cut someone who is out of options and they decided on Short. The infielder, who turns 29 next month, was claimed off waivers from the Tigers in November. He took 12 plate appearances with the Mets this year and produced a line of just .111/.273/.111 in that time.
He spent the past three years with the Tigers and has a career batting line of .172/.266/.304 in 462 plate appearances. He’s been better in Triple-A, having slashed .226/.361/.397 since the start of 2021 while drawing walks in 16.2% of his appearances at that level. Since he’s played all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base, he could be a solid utility piece if his major league offense were a bit more like his minor league work.
The Mets will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. In his absence, Joey Wendle will be the backup infielder, with a regular alignment of Baty, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso on the dirt.
Hooray
Booooooooo
Strange remark
Nah. He’s just being a spooky ghost.
Not Shorty!
We not gonna party like it’s your birthday!
Good. It was disgraceful that he wore Cleon’s old number.
So the Mets are no longer coming up Short?
News to me.
He fell short of expectations.
He was on a short leash
Shoulda kept Short and DFAd Wendle
Wendle bats left and is a better hitter. Short makes the most sense to go.
I don’t agree that Wendle’s a better hitter -his 550ish OPs last year was 80 points lower than Short’s, and it was the second straight year it had dropped 100 points from the previous season. And that lefty bat had reverse splits last year, and again so far this season. (Though with an OPS that low, does it really matter?).
They’ve both been poor in this regular season. It was more likely that secondary factors made this decision: Specifically a $2 million guaranteed major league contract that Wendle did not deserve. And a clear pro-Wendle bias on Stearns’ part that prompted him to give Wendle that contract in the first place.
A tertiary consideration.. reports out of spring training said that other teams’ scouts liked Short. Perhaps Stearns believes that he has a chance of getting something back in trade for him.
Alternately, if Short does clear waivers, the Met retain control over him. Wendle would have the right to become a free agent, with the Mets still paying most of his salary.
It’s not for you judge whether or not any player “deserves” a contract signed as a free agent in an open market for his services.
By definition, any player who reaches free agency “deserves” the best contract he can get from the team making the offer of its own free will.
And each player’s contract and compensation reflects how each was valued by and in that market.
Not sure Joey Wendle could have gotten the same contract on the open market the Mets gave him. I think David Stearns jumped a bit too fast. My guess is Wendle was Stearns hedge bet against the lefty bat Baty not developing as hoped, with a little bit of “he can play short or maybe outfield too” just in case Lindor ever took a night off.
And he had a really forgettable 2023 in Miami at age 33 which should have only gotten him a minor league deal with invitation to ST contract.
But Wendle got what he got, so that’s how he was valued by the open market.
White Sox might want to consider him.
Long Island Ducks
Well that was Short
He is a handsome man. Sad to see him gone
Zack is a solid utility guy and a very smart base runner who won’t cost you an out in a critical situation. He’ll help someone’s team. Count on it.
Agreed. I liked what I saw in spring training. Annoyed that he did not get more playing time. Seems like his playing time was a casualty of Baty’s unusual good luck on balls that are still not being hit hard, and still mostly grounders.
Wendle has better range. But Short’s got a much better arm, runs the bases better, and hits the ball harder, and has at least a little HR pop.
Best of luck to the fella
Nothing short of a short leash.
He got the short end of the stick.
Vientos should have been up here while Martinez was getting into game shape. The kid can flat out rake. Hes performed bad when hes gotten sporatic playing time. He was really coming into his own last September when they finally had enough of Vogelfat and actually played Vientos everyday
He hit.211 and struck out 73 times in 230 ABS with a .253 OBP. That’s definitely not “coming into his own”
I bet you don’t even believe your own assertion but you saw an opportunity to include “vogelfat” in a comment so you took it because that’s about as much cleverness as your capable of.
Wendle blows. Shoot him into the sun.
not happy with that move, Wendle has looked lost