J.D. Martinez is getting closer to his Mets debut.
The All-Star slugger is set to begin playing in the minor leagues — perhaps as soon as Friday — after staying behind in Port St. Lucie for an extended spring training, manager Carlos Mendoza said Thursday.
“He’s getting close to joining one of our affiliates … whether that’s Syracuse, Binghamton or Port St. Lucie,” Mendoza said before the Mets’ doubleheader against the Tigers at Citi Field. “We’ve still got to talk to him and go from there.”
Mendoza doesn’t expect Martinez to suit up for the Mets in Cincinnati on Sunday, when he first becomes eligible to join the MLB roster, but said the designated hitter could debut during the subsequent four-game series in Atlanta next week, depending on how he’s feeling.
“He’s going to have a strong opinion on this,” Mendoza said. “He knows himself better than anybody else. His routine, and how detail-oriented he is, and the feel for his swings and mechanics and things like that, we’ll consider those things.”
The Mets signed Martinez to a one-year, $12 million contract in late March, ending his prolonged free agency about a month after teams reported to spring training.
Martinez, 36, was one of several big-name Scott Boras clients who settled for short-term contracts late in the offseason — a list also including the Giants’ Blake Snell and Matt Chapman; the Cubs’ Cody Bellinger; and the Diamondbacks’ Jordan Montgomery.
Martinez hit .271 with 33 home runs and 103 RBI with the Dodgers last season, earning him the sixth All-Star selection of his 13-year career.
Evaluations of Martinez’s swings against Mets minor leaguers in Port St. Lucie and his conditioning have been “good for the most part,” Mendoza said.
“There’s days where mechanics are off, timing is off. … This is a very meticulous guy,” Mendoza said. “He’s getting a ton of at-bats, and [according to] the feedback we’re getting, a lot of conditioning, he’s moving in the right direction.”
Martinez figures to add a veteran presence to the middle of a Mets batting order that scored one run or fewer in three of its first four games en route to an 0-4 start. The cleanup spot in the Mets’ lineup — directly behind Pete Alonso — has been a revolving door early in the season, with Jeff McNeil, Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez each filling it thus far.
The Mets won’t rush Martinez to be ready for their April 8-11 series against the NL East-rival Braves, said Mendoza, who added the team will consider multiple factors when deciding where he’ll make his minor-league appearances.
“You look at weather,” Mendoza said. “You look at potential rainouts and things like that. You don’t want to miss any days. You want to keep him in warm weather. It’s a combination of a lot of things, but at the end of the day, as long as he’s getting at-bats and he’s running the bases, it’s more like real games now.”
SLOW START
Exactly one week into the 2024 season, Mendoza didn’t sugarcoat the Mets’ slow start.
Entering Thursday, the Mets had already suffered four losses without a win, as well as three rainouts, including on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A season-opening three-game sweep at the hands of the Brewers saw a benches-clearing brouhaha on Friday after McNeil took issue with what he called a “late” slide by Milwaukee’s Rhys Hoskins. Tylor Megill then left Sunday’s start after four innings and has since gone on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder strain.
“Not the [start] I anticipated, to be honest with you,” said Mendoza, who is in his first season as an MLB manager. “Been through a lot, especially the first series with all the events that happened, unfortunately happened.
“You don’t want to go through it. I get it, but it’s one of those [things] where you’ve just got to keep going. You’ve just got to prepare. You’ve got to keep relying on your guys, your coaches … and we’ll get through it.”
NO DAYS OFF
The back-to-back rainouts eliminated what was originally scheduled to be an off day Thursday, leaving the Mets with a grueling stretch of 15 games in 14 days.
With Megill and ace Kodai Senga out with shoulder injuries, the Mets must now navigate their depleted pitching staff without a scheduled day off until April 18.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Mendoza said of the schedule-related challenges. “Bullpen. Getting rest for some of the position players, especially playing 18 innings today. … Making sure you keep guys fresh.”
Still, Mendoza isn’t advocating for fewer early-season games in open-air stadiums or in cold-weather cities.
“The schedule’s the schedule,” Mendoza said. “We’ve just got to adapt. You’re gonna be dealing with weather sometimes, and here we are. Three rainouts in the opening week is not ideal, but it’s [about] what’s ahead of us, and we’ve just got to embrace it and we’ll be ready for it.”
