Mets Sign Jorge Polanco Reaction

Mets Sign Jorge Polanco Reaction

What’s up, Mets fans? Saturday morning and we get bizarre news. The Mets signed Jorge Palano to a two two-year $40 million contract. Before we do talk more about this, make sure you are subscribed to Metsub so you don’t miss out on any of the apparently insane news that’s going to go on with this team this offseason. I I can’t even I can’t even believe it. Like my reaction is bizarre. I don’t know what to feel. I’m more confused than ever. I’m only confused. It’s like it’s fine. Like Jorge Palano is good. I just I wasn’t expecting to wake up and see Jorge Palano is going to be the Mets’s new first baseman. I think the biggest lesson to learn from this is that some people can pretend like some people can acknowledge but no one has any idea what David Sterns is going to do next. I mean we 32-year-old Jorge Palano who’s a horrible fielder at other positions. Now we’re going to put him at first base position. He never played and we said we care about infield defense which is one of the reasons why we didn’t want to bring back Pete for long term. I don’t get it. I I guess that I don’t get it. For extra $10 million a year, I would much rather have Pete Alonzo even for the extra years as well. Yeah. Well, clearly they wouldn’t rather have Petonozo for the extra years. Clearly the years were the problem. But again, like he’s I mean, I’m feel like we’re in Moneyball right now. Like he could probably play first base, right? I don’t know. Maybe he played one inning there last year. Like maybe it’s so This is so weird. He’s also He’s not like a big guy either to play first. I don’t know. This is so This is such a weird move. I like I can’t take off the the the Met fan hat here of being like this this was the solution to the first base problem. I don’t know. Clearly, I guess we’re not getting Wilson Contraras it seems like. Or maybe he just DHS more. Maybe this is just the the Mark Vento squeeze and you still play for first baseman. Like I’m I am just surprised that we’re getting someone who’s never played first base anymore to reportedly play first base. And shout out Will Sammon for having a lights out off seasonason breaking this news and being the first to he’s going to play first base news for Hory Palanco. It’s just um I I mean like I just as a as a baseball player, let’s pretend the Mets had no players on his roster. Let’s pretend we’re a blank slate. I was like giving him 20 million is fine, I guess. I I would have thought like 18 would have been his number, so whatever. 20 million’s like normal. Who cares? Two-year deal. It’s just we have the context of what this Mets team is. That’s what makes it so weird. It’s like sure in a world where we forgot that 20 the Mets ever existed before this exact moment and you’re like Cory Palano’s on the team like oh like 134 OPS plus last year 820 OPS hit 25 homers in Seattle drove an 80 like good season. The problem is that we live in the world where we know the context of the Mets and we’re like what cuz like also at the end of the day like what if he can’t play first base then we have a seventh second baseman on this team then we’re the San Diego Padres’s again. Like what is going on? I mean, we we have said that we want this team to have more versatility. I know he’s not a first baseman, but at least he’s like technically probably a better athlete and half. I mean, he’s not going to be on the bench because he’s making$20 million. Well, I don’t think he’s average. I mean, Oy Plunk was a baseball player. How much we just want baseball players on this team. Like, he’s a baseball player. He’s coming off the best offensive season of his career. He hit the piss out of the ball. Hit that huge home run off Terrick School in game five of the NLDS. Like, he’s he’s good. I again I think he’s I just I just I just don’t know what’s going on. Like I I sure like I’m not going to be excited about Jorge Blanco. I’m also not going to be mad about Jorge Blanco, but I’m like I can’t really I’m still waiting. I don’t remember if I gave the analogy on here or if it was on the wind up where it’s like the cake is cooking in the oven right now. I I really want to open the door and like see what it looks like, but I don’t want to let the heat out because I’m like what’s what’s happening? I don’t know. I don’t even know if we’ve got the batter warm yet. It feels like the It’s still loose. Like it’s a loose cake. And this is this is just a weird move. I wish I had better takes, but like I I can’t be upset, but I can’t get excited about this one. Is that is that okay? Is that an okay place to be? Such an okay play. And you you’re allowed to do whatever have whatever reaction you run want, sir. You can do anything you want, but like he’s for $20 million. Like I think it’s a good hitther for $20 million. I think that he’s not going to play the most games of first basis here, is he? Like I still he can’t, right? I still believe it’ll be someone like Contrarus or Ryan O’Harn. Like I still just think there’s there’s going to be some kind of platoon. Like he feels like he feels like our DH that can play the field. Yes. Right. Yeah. It feels like uh like in a world where Mark Ventos is on this roster and stuff. Jorge Palano DHes and plays first against the righties and against the lefties, Mark Ventos gets a chance. Yeah. Right. Plays first base against the righties. That’s now No, maybe I mean maybe maybe Hory Blanco doesn’t even play against the righties. I know last year he had a really good split against Well, if he’s if he’s getting paid $20 million, he’s probably going to play probably. There’s no doubt he’s playing against the righties. Or he’s just This is depend like even if you just even if he just plays against right-handed pitchers, then he’s going to get 500 appearances. Oh, yeah. I mean, against the lefties. Yeah. No, of course. Yeah. I I’m gonna confuse the switch hither because he’s not That’s your thing. That’s your thing. He’s not he’s not the best hitther as a right-handed hitter against left-handed pitching. That’s where he struggles a little bit. He’s got a two m per hour bat speed drop uh when he’s hitting from the right side compared to the left side. So what’s the what’s it from the left side then? Almost 72. 71 and a half. Okay. From the right side 69.8 last year. Gotcha. That makes sense. And he did have one of the higher changes in bat speed year-over-year. He went up almost two last season from 2025 uh 2024. So and that was all from the all from the left side. He went from a 70.2 mph bat speed in 2024 to 7.1 with a slight increase in his swing length. season again. He’s definitely a good hitter. Like Oy Palanco is a is an addition. Like he’s he’s one of the few guys who could hit in Seattle as a lefty. He had the best season of his career in Seattle, which is kind of insane. He’s he’s a professional baseball player. He’s going to go into the middle of the lineup. He makes pretty okay swing decisions. He hits for good power. He lifts the ball. He pulls the ball. It’s just it’s just strange to, you know, wake up a little late in a Saturday morning and say, “See, Jory Pal is going to be your first baseman.” Now, he he uh cut the strikeout rate almost in half last year as well. He was 29.3 the prior year in 2024. last year was 15.6, which is basically the lowest of his career since like 2017, I think. Yeah. And that’s where he was when he was a little bit younger, having those great seasons with the Twins when they were breaking home run records. And he’s like, this is this is just Eduardo Escobar again. Yeah, this kind of is Eduardo Escobar. He He was fun. He’s like a better version of Eduardo Escobar. Yeah, younger version, too. Yeah, younger version because he’s still good. Like there were rumors that the Mariners were like prioritizing bringing him back. Evidently, it’s not true cuz we got him for only two years. I think I think Oh, there’s there’s my alarm going off just in case I didn’t wake up before this required time. I just think um I think the hypothesis we had the other day is like ringing true where there’s not and this might this might this might be hard to hear. There’s not like the firmst plan of like we need a b c d. This isn’t like a complete the offseason checklist. This is like we have an evaluation of every single player and if any of these players contracts wind up inside of our evaluation of them, we will sign them. That’s just what this is. This feels more opportunistic than going out and getting a guy. Yeah. I don’t think we started the offseason like if we could get Jorge Palano, man. That’s that’s going to complete this thing. No, this is this is Oh, Jorge Palano signing for exactly what we want. He wants to play for us. Yeah, great. Do it. Yeah. I I think it’s really really tough right now to convince any Met fan to feel any sort of way about this. Not trying to convince anyone to feel anything. Say who Blanco is. That’s And but that’s where my brain is. is just like knowing again they’re not the same realm contractwise either but like knowing Pete like Pete versus him is I can’t get over that we have to get rid of that type of thinking out of our head start I was just starting to I like busy weekend we got a a wedding for our friend it was like we’re going to be busy now the Mets make a move I’m like I’m thinking about this frigin team again I I wanted a good 72 hours clean from them I got a good reply to my tweet from JUP Mets that Hy Blanc with the same ops as Alex Bregman last year in a much worse place to hit. Okay, that’s good. Again, like think think about it this way. Just think about Jorge Palano as a a baseball player in a baseball team rather than as replacing Pete Alonzo because you’re never going to be able to accept Jorge Palanco for replacing Pete Alonzo. But like replacing Pete Alonzo is going to be the the documentary for Palanco when the Mets win the World Series in 2026. Yeah. Replacing Pete Alonzo. This feels more like again like the f this feels more like different scenes of Moneyball where it’s like we’re not going to replace Jeremy Jambi. We got to replace his production the aggregate. That’s what That’s what this feels like we’re doing in a way. Except we spent $40 million. So yeah, but yeah, two two for 20. I I the money I I don’t really care about the money. It’s No, not at all. It’s And clearly, again, there’s a contract they wanted to sign for a Blanco. This is It’s very weird to come here, have a podcast, not have the firmst takes, but I’m just like this is this is Jorge Blanco. He is a player that is now on the Mets and he’s not bad. I don’t want to I don’t want to hold it against Jorge Blanco. might be replacing Ponzo, but like he’s the only thing I’ll say is he does not he’s the first time it doesn’t fit into what David Stern said all offseason about run prevention. He makes no s. He does not fit there at any position he plays ever. Unless he’s the DH if he he’s the best he could be one of the best defensive DHS in the league. That’s true. He could be have one of the lows at DH next season. You do have a good point there. Over under 70 games in the field for Hory Palanco this season. Over. Yeah. I I think over because he can play second. He can play third. He theoretically could play shortstop if needed. It does feel like it is a for a a spot that’s kind of taken up by Akunia. It feels like you’re getting a much much better player at the absolute worst and you’ll worry about the defense when it has to. Let’s think about Jorge Blanco in this light. Like early in the season when Jeff McNeel was injured again like you said we had a Kuna play like almost a month of second base and Brett Batty played a lot of second base. Yeah. The last weekend of the season when Brett Bailey pulled his oblique and we had to put the combination of Mark Ventos and Ryan Reio at their base defensively, you felt a huge chasm in defensive ability and you felt especially well first of all with Ventos just a complete inability to play the position and know Mauricio these horrible mental errors that are kind of the worst thing you could ever imagine at that time in a season when every single out is precious. Jorge Palano is not a player that will do something like that. He’s more prone to maybe be in the right spot but boo the ball but again like he’s as him being the glue guy on the roster. That’s I think how we should envision this. And I still I would still probably make a wager that we have a different first baseman that signs a deal. It might not be the sexiest option in the world. Maybe we don’t. I someone will be signed who can play some kind of first base. I think this also probably is more of a squeeze for Jeff McNeel. Yeah. Like as that continues to happen. This is also again like Marcus Semian’s going to be our second baseman. He’s old as [ __ ] like or he could easily he could easily get hurt like you know what I mean like this is I was kind of being facicious and I originally said he’s like has the best glove for DH in the league but I think that’s this is this is the DH glue guy who can play some first base not the first baseman replacing Pete Lonzo. I will say uh maybe like as I’m saying my next bit here you can look up what his numbers power-wise would have been in City Field versus Seattle. I would love to see what that looks like. Higher OPS’s last year I’m just going to name some guys. Higher OPS’s than Fernando Tatis Jr. Then Cody Bellinger, then Francisco Lindor. Obviously, he doesn’t have the defense that these guys have, but just mentioning them. How about some guys who don’t play defense? Higher OPS than Sea Suzuki, higher OPS than Ryan O’Harn, higher OPS than Christian Yelich, Manny Machado, Mike Trout. So Wilson Contra, higher OPS than Wilson Contrarus. Like maybe this is just what it is. Maybe the messages like he can flat out hit and at this price point like you mentioned he fits in what their their risk that they’re willing to take is and they just feel like he’s going to be able to just flat out hit and the Mets could use another hitter in this lineup desperately and again he fits in for something this roster has needed the last few years. A guy that can play multiple spots and be a professional. He also this year was much more aggressive on pitches in the heart of the plate compared to the last few seasons. We like that a lot. The swing decisions ticked up. It was a lot of aggression that helped him get there into the field last year compared to Seattle where they’ve had fewer home runs. But maybe that’s just because he he snuck a couple out. I I mean he’s he’s a big pulled fly ball guy. I think that’s another big thing too. Like we’ve seen that now in the way they’ve gone after Marcus Semu is a big pled ball guy. Hy Palanco a big pled ball guy. Ponzo’s not a big pulled fly ball guy. Like that’s maybe that was just a little bit part of this nexus too. And again not trying to compare those guys but he’s Yeah, speed’s clearly better. We know that. No, of course. Not even not even a question here. Like he’s Hoy Palano is a is a good ball player. That’s it. Hope I really hope he stays a good ball player. Yeah. I mean he got two years, but if he if Hoy Blanco is on this team last year, you probably make the postseason. Like he’s just I’ll definitely make it. Yeah. He’s that that that’s probably what we should get out of this the most that he’s he’s good. Like last year defensive numbers were bad. He’s playing a lot of second base. Probably not going to play a lot of second base here unless someone gets injured. Let’s make possibly let’s possibly two people get injured. Higher WRC plus last year than Bryce Harper. There you go. Look at this. By one, but it was higher. It’s higher. This is this is a good hitter. Like maybe even he gets slightly fewer played appearances against left-handed pitching. And that’s because maybe that’s although he did he did mash lefties last year, but again such a small sample over his career he doesn’t hit lefties as well as he hits right-handed pitching. Yes. And one year outside the play appearance splits are not very indicative of anything. But maybe although he did own Terco. He did. He owned Terble. That hit that huge home run. Like he was he was a he was a piece for the Mariners going to that playoff run. Like I just I never once thought Jorge Palano was going to be a bet. I didn’t even I didn’t even consider him for half a second that the Mets would go after him. Also, we didn’t hear a [ __ ] word about Jorge Palano with the Mets, which is probably why also all the writers ate his guts. I think I think that’s the biggest thing maybe to draw from this. The two two big things to draw from this video. One, Jorge Blanco, good baseball player. Fine. Two, don’t think about him like he’s replacing Pete Lonzo. Three, I don’t have any [ __ ] idea what David Sterns is thinking. Nope. I am way more confused than I was when I went to sleep last night. Even when I woke up today, I woke up and I all of a sudden my phone goes to the Mets. Are you kidding me? And I started calling James. Finally woke up and I think that’s the first thing you heard today was me go. You’re like, “What’s up?” I’m like, “Hi Palano trades the Mets.” You’re like, “What?” First thing I heard, first thing I saw. No. Or trades to the Mets. Signed by the Mets. Yeah. Signed by the Mets. Yeah. But I I don’t know. I’m excited for what comes next. How about that? Yeah, kind of. I’ll tell you what, from a content perspective, they’re really giving us all the content in the world again. Back-to-back offseason. Shout out the Mets for taking care of the boys here, but my mental state and my Mets fandom doesn’t feel great. Yeah. Again, like this is all I can think about is Moneyball right now. We also have a report from Ken Rosenthal, and Will Salmon as all of this was happening that the Mets and the Padres’s are discussing some names being thrown around. Raone Lauraniano, Mason Miller, Nick Pavetta to name a very crazy range. The Padres’s wantable pitching. I don’t know if the Mets are willing to part ways with it, but there’s I think that we’re going to see some I think we’re going to see some some crazy deals. I have to be honest with you guys. It feels like we have to if this team has any chance of being good next year. It feels like we have to see some crazy [ __ ] happen. Although, I will say I’m I’m throwing cold water on all this Francisco Indoor Trade nonsense that the mutants on Twitter are bringing up. None of that. Who’s saying that? I think like Evan Roberts mentioned it the other day. I think people on WFAN were running with it. It’s the don’t don’t let like we like Evan. We actually like Evan. This is not a shot of him. And I’m not even sure because I’m being told through the grapevine of people saying things. So, that could be bad info, but apparently it’s being run all all over the the social media, the interwebs, and sometimes on the radio that maybe the Mets could be looking to consider trading Francisco Lindor, which is just absolutely brain dead. I mean, like, the Padres’s need to get rid of money, not take money on. Like, there’s no Yeah. Even if it is not to the Padres’s, it’s bad. It’s not happening. Yeah. No, I don’t think so either. This is just the team is incomplete right now, and I think that’s okay. Yes. No, it’s not. But I mean, it’s December 13th. We got time. I know. I know. I just I I’d like Christmas. I’d like to feel better. I know. I mean, David Sterns can’t only be worried about your feelings, Mark. He has to be worried about Mark Luino. If he’s not thinking about Mark Luino, what’s it all for? The Mets are not coddling Mark enough this offseason. That’s what it is. I need to be coddled. I Let’s How about this? Let’s play this last game before we leave. And you guys can hit us up in the comments, too. If you guys want to make a joke about it, that’s fine. What hap What’s the next move? All right. Next move that the Mets make. The Mets are What are they going to do? They’re going to go trade for Luis Rober. That’s the next move. That’s the next move. They trade for Luis Rober. Address that one real quick, too. There’s a lot of people kind of maybe Ventos is out now. Maybe this is the full Ventos is gone or Akunia is gone. One of those two probably can’t fit on this roster or Mauricio. It feels like it seems like Palano more so has like the Mauricio role than anything else. Like the I don’t have a possession, but I can kind of play all of them. Even though Mauricio like graded better those positions, but the mental Mauricio still has an option. So, I don’t know if the Mets would trade him where Akuna’s got none and Ventos obviously has none. So, it’s got to be one of those guys is gone next. And I think it’s for Luis Rober. I think Mauricio has that option. We had to keep him on the roster all year last year. We couldn’t trade for a guy like Cory Blanco at the deadline and not have Ronnie Mauricio sitting wasting the bench all season. But um there was a report that went around that the Met the Loose Roar report that the Pirate the White Sox wanted a particular prospect from the Mets and the Mets wanted to kick in money allegedly for that prospect and people were like how could the Mets want money to be kicked in? Like the White Sox made a hard line of not kicking in money for the most expensive for the richest owner in the sport. The White Socks are doing that. That’s bad business because if there’s a particular prospect they wanted and the Mets are like this prospect is above this line for us. So you we need some money for that prospect. That’s if I was a White Sox fan, I’d be very disappointed that my team could actually get the prospect I wanted but won’t pay the few million dollars to do it. Yeah, that would be that’d be a horrible horrible look for a horrible organization. But yeah, that’s mine. I think it’s going to be Ventoskunia traded for a Luis Rober center field type. What do you think it’s going to be, James? I still think that we get the I still think we get Wilson Contreres after this. I’m not kidding. All right. A Wilson Contrus, Lars Newar, Jojo Romero for like god like for like a vitos Mauricio and then I don’t know one of like the the low a the high A pitches or something. Well, I guess we’ll find out. Seems like this Mets off season is far from over and full of surprises which might be good or bad. You guys can let us know in the comments section what you’re thinking. Subscribe to Metsub, not just on YouTube, but if you’re listening to us, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google, drop us a rating, drop us a review, download and subscribe. You can follow James on social media at James. I’m Draft Nicknick Mark with a C. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you for watching. We’ll catch you all probably another day. I don’t know. More stuff’s happening. Maybe later today. Who knows? We’ll see you then. All right, guys. Let’s go, Matt.

Mets have signed Jorge Polanco to a 2 year $40m contract to play 1B and DH for the Mets in 2026. This is our reaction to the strange offseason news for the Mets.

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