Few players in Major League Baseball raised their stock this season quite like Jorge Polanco.
Polanco wound up re-signing with the Seattle Mariners after a rough first year in their uniform, a signing which was not well-received by a fan base frustrated about the club’s lack of offense. But Polanco, in his 12th major league season, became a key cog in that offense during the regular season, and he was fantastic in the playoffs as well.
Meanwhile, the New York Mets were under immense pressure to find a pivot after the losses of Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz to the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively. Polanco was one of the top free-agent bats remaining, especially among players not projected for nine-figure contracts, so evidently, both sides saw a fit.
On Saturday, the Mets and Polanco reportedly reached an agreement on a two-year, $40 million contract. The Athletic’s Will Sammon was the first to deliver the news via X.
Polanco, who has mostly been a second baseman throughout his career and played there in the playoffs for Seattle after serving as the designated hitter for most of the year, will evidently take on a new challenge. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Mets’ plan for him is to split time between first base and DH.
A year removed from a subpar .651 OPS, Polanco put together a .265/.326/.495 slash line in Seattle with 26 home runs and a career-best 134 OPS+. His playoff run included a two-homer game against Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and a walk-off single in the 15th inning of the winner-take-all Game 5 of the division series against the Detroit Tigers.
Seattle made re-signing the players from its American League Championship Series run its stated priority, but after inking first baseman Josh Naylor to a five-year, $92.5 million deal, there may not have been enough room in the budget to match the Mets’ offer.
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