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The New York Mets finally put a major-league move on the board, agreeing to a two-year, $40 million contract with free-agent infielder Jorge Polanco, according to multiple reports, including The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Jeff Passan of ESPN.
It’s a signing that feels less like a victory lap and more like a breath of air. Mets fans have watched this offseason turn into a slow-motion gut punch—Pete Alonso’s exit, Edwin Díaz leaving for the Dodgers, and the franchise trading Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers—and the loudest takeaway has been the silence.
So yes, Polanco is a real player. He can help. But this is also the first time in weeks the Mets have given their fan base something tangible to react to besides “more to come.”
Polanco Gives the Mets a Needed Bat—and Real Lineup Flexibility
Polanco’s 2025 line explains why the Mets were willing to pay starter money: 2.6 WAR, 26 homers, 78 RBIs, and an .821 OPS across 138 games. That’s impact production, and it’s not empty calorie power, either—he paired the home runs with a strong overall offensive season and looked far more like the player who used to punish mistakes from both sides of the plate than the one who stumbled through 2024 in Seattle.
The key detail for New York is how Polanco has been deployed lately. Over the last two seasons, he has primarily played at second base and DH, which is significant for a Mets roster that has been constantly trying to solve too many problems with too few clean fits. He gives the Mets a legitimate switch-hitting thump option they can plug into the middle of the order without pretending it’s a perfect defensive match every day.
Passan noted Polanco’s ability to play first, second, and third base, plus DH—and that versatility feels like the Mets admitting what this offseason has forced them to accept: they need options, not one-lane solutions. The Mets already reshaped their infield when they acquired Marcus Semien in the Nimmo trade, and Polanco now adds another credible bat to a group that desperately needed it.
Why Mets Fans Might Still Feel Underwhelmed
This is where the mood of the offseason matters. Polanco isn’t arriving in a vacuum. He’s arriving after the Mets watched their identity get stripped down—Alonso’s power gone, Díaz’s ninth-inning theatrics shipped to Los Angeles, and Nimmo’s on-base grind moved to Texas.
That’s why this signing can be both a smart baseball move and still feel like a deflating headline for a fan base that expected a pivot, not a patch. New York didn’t just lose players; they lost pillars. ESPN’s coverage of the Díaz decision even framed it around what the Mets couldn’t offer: the winning certainty Díaz believed the Dodgers provided.
Polanco can hit. He can lengthen a lineup. He can soak up at-bats at second base and DH the way he has in recent years. But if the Mets want this to land as something more than “finally, they did something,” they’ll need to show Polanco isn’t the end of the response to a winter that has felt like subtraction disguised as strategy.
For now, the Mets have made their first post-Alonso, post-Díaz, post-Nimmo statement. Fans didn’t dream about this move. But it’s at least a move that makes the lineup harder to pitch to—and reminds everyone the offseason is still happening in Queens.
Alvin Garcia Born in Puerto Rico, Alvin Garcia is a sports writer for Heavy.com who focuses on MLB. His work has appeared on FanSided, LWOS, NewsBreak, Athlon Sports, and Yardbarker, covering mostly MLB. More about Alvin Garcia
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