The Mets are hoping that veteran slugger J.D. Martinez can join the big league club to make his debut on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). In the meantime, DiComo adds that Martinez will move his rehab assignment up to Triple-A Syracuse while he works toward being ready to return to the big leagues. Martinez, 36, signed with the Mets on a one-year deal just before Opening Day. Thanks to the slugger missing the entirety of Spring Training, he began the season in the minor leagues in order to build up for his debut with the big league Mets.
That process hit almost an immediate snag after Martinez found himself sidelined by “general body soreness” just two games into his rehab process. It was initially expected that Martinez would only need a few days off, but he hasn’t appeared in any games during the two weeks since then. That’s now set to change, however, with Martinez scheduled to get his final reps in at the Triple-A level before finally making his debut in Queens against the Cardinals, assuming things go smoothly from here. Should Martinez indeed be ready to come up on Friday, it would provide a boost to a Mets club that has already won six straight and ten of their last twelve to place themselves just 2.5 games back of Atlanta for the lead in the NL East.
The addition of Martinez, a six-time All Star and three-time Silver Slugger award winner, to the club’s lineup should help to further bolster a lineup that has already delivered a solid 109 wRC+ that ranks ninth among all MLB clubs this season. He’ll be particularly valuable for his power output; while the Mets currently rank middle of the pack with an ISO of just .141 and 22 home runs as a team, Martinez sports an incredible .237 ISO for his career and crushed 33 homers in just 113 games with the Dodgers last year.
More from around the NL East…
- When Nationals backstop Keibert Ruiz was placed on the 10-day injured list because of the flu last week, it was a bit of an unusual diagnosis as illnesses rarely keep players out for more than a couple of days. Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post reported this afternoon that Ruiz’s case was severe enough that he’s lost between 18 and 20 pounds due to the illness, which has sidelined him since April 9. Fortunately, the young catcher seems to be doing better at this point, as Nusbaum adds that Ruiz is expected to head out for a rehab assignment in the coming days. Ruiz got off to a tough start at the plate with a slash line of just .194/.265/.290 in 34 plate appearances this year but nonetheless figures to take over regular catching duties for the Nats upon his return, where Riley Adams and Drew Millas have split time in Ruiz’s absence.
- Braves right-hander Spencer Strider won’t pitch again this season after undergoing an internal brace procedure on his UCL earlier this month, but he told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) earlier this week that he hadn’t actually torn his UCL. Instead, Strider noted that imaging revealed that a bone fragment had formed inside his UCL in the years since he first underwent surgery on the elbow back in 2019. Strider also revealed that he had been nursing discomfort in his elbow dating back to Spring Training, though at the time he attempted to pitch through it as it hadn’t impacted his velocity. The 25-year-old has emerged as one of the league’s most talented starters in recent years, posting a 3.36 ERA and 2.43 FIP in 318 1/3 innings of work between the 2022 and ’23 seasons. Atlanta has turned to right-hander Darius Vines to fill Strider’s spot in the rotation for the time being, though it’s possible another arm such as Bryce Elder or AJ Smith-Shawver could enter the mix for Strider’s starts at some point this season.
How long does it take a guy who only swings a bat to get ready? Athleticism is on the decline in MLB. What a joke.
Missing two weeks with “general body soreness” seems curious to me.
“General Body Soreness” outranks “Colonel Old & Grumpy.”
If that’s actually the case then his offseason conditioning must have been pretty light. I could just imagine going to my employer and saying, “I’m having general soreness throughout. Better just shut it down for a little while just to be on the safe side.”
Depends on that “grneral body soreness” apparently
As a former catcher, that was (and some days still is) a daily occurrence.
How athletic do you think a 36-37 year old 1B/DH is?
Guys who a normally relegated to 1B/DH duty usually aren’t the most athletic to begin with in their prime (late 20s early 30s).
Far as swing a bat, probably takes a while to get up to game speed. I’m sure they can physically be ready but to face live pitching and facing fastballs sliders curves change ups cutters etc probably takes a couple weeks just to get use to seeing live full game speed pitching again.
Martinez and boras still mad nobody would fork over multiple years and who knows how much they were hoping for and had to settle for a measly 10m. Guess they figure why hurry back when he’s got that anyway?
Guess you have no idea what he is thinking or what it takes to be ready to face MLB pitching.
It seems pathetic that he’s not playing yet and clearly didn’t keep himself in game shape. Mets are actually playing good ball and could really use a bat like his.
For another $5M he can arrange express delivery and be in that lineup tomorrow. Otherwise standard delivery MIGHT have him there by Friday………ish.”
Athleticism is quite obviously higher than ever. What a stupid comment
Best of luck for the guy, but 2 weeks for general body soreness?
When looking for a new job you’d think he’d be in better shape?
I think “general body soreness” means “I can’t catch up to the fastball”
I knew a General Soreness.
He was promoted over Colonel Sanders.
Or trouble with the curve.
Crushed 33 homers ey? That’s somewhat pedestrian in today’s game. What outlandish adjective would you use for the 40 mark?
33 homers is above average by itself, but he did that in 113 games, in 162 that’s on pace for 47
When the World is Running Down You Make the Best of What’s Still Around musical philosophy from the Police
Is This the World We Created? by Queen
Isn’t It a Pity – George Harrison
It’s the end of the World as we know It – R.E.M.
This is the end – The Doors
It already has been proven mlb players frequent this site and I think it is fair to assume some create burner accounts on here from time to time.
Proven?
Explains the bot types who defend the likes of Kris Bryant every time one of us point out his propensity for every random injury under the sun resulting in IL placement.
Gonna be hard to hit a baseball without the Juice.
RIP OJ. His impact on MLB was unquantifiable.
I find the above misleading. The only problem was not a lose fragment but one caused by the fragment, which led to the operation being quite a big deal, despite being less than Tommy John in many respects. I also find his wanting to pitch through pain because his velo wasn’t down to be shortsighted and to have ruined his season and decreased his teams chances of a WS. He was, frankly, immature and unwise. He speculated that the injury caused by the fragment was from his last start, probably true based on his velo. So he cost himself the season as a bone fragment injury is quite a bit less severe.
Pretty sad when a baseball player who is a free agent doesn’t have the smarts to get himself into game shape while he is angling for a new contract??? That tells me all I need to know about his character.
You guys are brutal (or trying to be funny). Flu bad enough to lose about 7% of your body weight is 10 day to 2 weeks for a desk jockey. For a professional athlete who catches and hits 95 mile pitches and throws out players stealing bases…….it isn’t going to be any less because he has to get to a higher level. This has nothing to do with whether he arrived in shape at the beginning of Spring training.