Perhaps, but only on their terms, the New York Mets were serious about filling the DH hole all along. If none of the free agency alternatives reduced their expectations, the suggested plan to rotate through the role with Mark Vientos, DJ Stewart, and Starling Marte was likely more of a backup plan. When J.D. Martinez does, it will be a delight to see him bat in the middle of the order.
The organization thought about using Brandon Belt, an unsigned free agent, as a Martinez substitute. They were supposedly the only team to even make him a guaranteed contract, that’s how highly they valued him.
Why did Belt not accept it? The incentives constituted “almost entirely” of the contract.
This offseason, Brandon Belt was treated like Rodney Dangerfield by all parties, including the Mets.
Belt recently concluded a successful season with the Toronto Blue Jays. With just 404 plate appearances, he hit 19 home runs and added a .254/.369/.490 slash line to his career. At this stage of his career, he is primarily used as a designated hitter, but he would have been a much better option for the Mets than Daniel Vogelbach, who, strangely, ended up starting in Belt’s place on the Blue Jays roster.
Vogelbach signed a minor league contract in the offseason, which makes a difference. It seems that Belt desired a stronger assurance. It is clear why. He also had 23 doubles in addition to those 19 home runs. It did, however, result in 141 strikeouts. The fact that Belt struck out in more than one-third of his plate appearances and could only face righties convinced other teams to pass on him.
Although Martinez hasn’t made his debut yet, the Mets made the right move in adding him, no doubt about it. Even so, it’s incredible that after such a successful season, no other team showed enough interest in signing Belt.
Not that he’s the only unsigned free agent after a successful campaign. Tommy Pham isn’t signed as of yet. These two could certainly form a platoon for a squad in dire need of a DH boost, don’t they?
In some strange parallel reality, that’s most likely what the Mets ultimately did. Martinez’s regular output will always be preferred over a platoon. Had the experience. That has worn me out.