Jorge Polanco Has Quickly Entered Himself Into Mets Infamy

[Michael Reed]

Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Shortly after the New York Mets let franchise icon Pete Alonso go in free agency, they signed Jorge Polanco to a two-year, $40 million deal. The 13-year veteran, who has been predominantly a second basemen his whole career, was tasked with learning first base in hopes of replacing Alonso. The Problem? Polanco has not been better than league average at any aspect of baseball this season.

The 33-year-old has missed most of the season due to a right wrist contusion and chronic left achilles bursitis, playing in only 34 games. Currently, Polanco is tied for the lowest fWAR in baseball with -1.3, and his wRC+ of 19 suggests he's earning $20 million to be 81% worse than a league-average hitter. Yikes. 

Polanco’s slash line of .137/.195/.226 might not get much better down the stretch, as all advanced metrics show no signs of unlucky hitting. Jared Young has taken over the first base position in Polanco’s absence, and manager Andy Green surely won't make the switch back to Polanco with how good Young has been.

In 2027, Polanco will be turning 34 coming off his career worst season as a starter, having played less than half of a season and will make another $20 million. When looking at the information in front of him during the offseason, Mets owner Steve Cohen and President of Baseball Operations David Stearns surely will not be happy with this result and will look to sign a replacement.

Though unlikely, they could also look to offload his contract elsewhere. The Mets and Steve Cohen would have to take on a huge chunk if they want to get a deal done, though, which might not be as enviable in a post-lockout world. If all else fails, Stearns might just cut his losses like he did with Frankie Montas and release him. In the future, Stearns and his front office have to be better at discerning when to buy high on a player; coming off a career year last year at age 32 with a 133 OPS+, Polanco was bound for some sort of regression, and it came.

With players like Munetaka Murakami, Pete Alonso, Josh Naylor, Luis Arraez, Kazuma Okamoto and Willson Contreras all available last offseason, regret is ripe in the air. The Mets' failed 2026 season could look a whole lot different if any of these players were playing first base these days. Alas, Polanco is here, though perhaps not for much longer.

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[MFS62]

Infamy is a strong word, reserved for true villains.

There are a lot of names above him (Mets and opponents) on my list.

Later

[smg58]

I kind of feel bad for Polanco because he was broken out of the box.  Now maybe somebody should have paid closer attention to the physical, or maybe there was bad luck involved.  But I'm not sure he's doing himself or the team any favors by going out there right now.  He's nothing close to 100%, and it's far more important that we figure out if he can get to 100% by next spring, or whether he's simply a sunk cost.