QUEENS, NY — New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is keeping things fluid regarding his team’s situation at first base this winter after a spectacular failure at the position. That means both internal and external options will be on the table in hopes of rectifying the wrongs he made last winter.
With no desire to retain Pete Alonso, Stearns let the franchise home run leader walk to the Baltimore Orioles on a five-year, $155 million pact. His contingency plan was to transition injury-prone career middle infielder Jorge Polanco to first, but the 33-year-old was statistically one of the worst players in baseball when healthy. Limited to just 37 games, Polanco batted .148 with a .431 OPS, two home runs, and six RBI.
Meanwhile, Alonso slugged 43 home runs, and had Citi Field turn on Stearns two weeks ago when he made his return and hit two round-trippers.
“In this job, I don’t get mulligans,” Stearns said. “I recognize Pete had a tremendous year, and the totality of our production at first base wasn’t good enough… We try to learn from everything. I think the entire offseason last year was a learning experience for me. I give Pete an enormous amount of credit. He went out and had a really good year.”
When Polanco went down, Jared Young got a majority of the reps at first base and performed admirably. Over his final 59 games of the season before a scary concussion earlier this month, he batted .296 with an .802 OPS.
Brett Baty, who lost his job at third base when Bo Bichette was signed, added to his super utility belt by getting time at first base, too. His offense provided some late intrigue, batting .321 with a .980 OPS, four home runs, and 22 RBI.
“I think Jared Young had a really good second half of the season when we gave him consistent playing time; he responded and performed,” Stearns said. “I think what we saw from Brett Baty over the last four to six weeks, he was one of the better offensive players in all of baseball. We need to see that more consistently, and Brett knows that. I don’t want to undercount that as well. We have other internal options, and I think we’re going to be looking externally as well.”
Polanco is still going to get a chance regardless of his nightmare debut season in Queens. He underwent surgery on his left ankle and will be in the mix come spring training.
“With Jorge, the earliest stages of rehab are going really well,” Stearns said. “I know, having gotten to know the person over the last year, he’s going to work exceptionally hard to put him in a position to contribute. I also don’t know the exact extent of what that’s going to look like. I’m not going to sit here and say he’s going to play 120 games at first base…. When he’s healthy, this is a really good offensive player who can hit from both sides of the plate in the middle of the lineup… I would love to have that version of the player on our team.”
The free-agent market is not necessarily teeming with an abundance of big-name options. Tampa Bay Rays star Yandy Diaz has a $10 million conditional club option for 2027. Ty France of the San Diego Padres and Jake Bauers of the Milwaukee Brewers will be free agents when this season ends.
“It’s potentially a combination of internal pieces and external,” Stearns said. “I don’t think sitting here right now, I wouldn’t close the door on anything.”
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