Remember Jorge Polanco? That guy who suited up for our Mariners for a bit? Well, his 2026 season with the New York Mets just wrapped up as one of the most brutal individual campaigns in recent memory, and honestly, the Emerald City faithful probably aren’t shocked. After signing a two-year, $40 million deal last December, just days after the Orioles snagged Pete Alonso, the Mets’ front office clearly had big dreams for their switch-hitting veteran. They talked about him crushing it at the plate, playing first base and designated hitter, and “bouncing around to other positions as needed.” Yeah, about that… none of it happened.
From Grand Plans to Grounded Reality
The Mets had a whole plan, right? After a cautious pre-season period, designed to ease him into the long grind because of past leg injury issues, Polanco was supposed to be a versatile weapon. But the moment the real games started, those plans crumbled. He played first base exactly two times, in the first and second games of the season. By early April, reports were already surfacing about his lower legs, with his Achilles tendon and heel getting specific mentions. From then on, it was DH or bust for Polanco, and honestly, mostly bust. A variety of injuries kept him sidelined for big chunks of the season. When he *did* play, he was historically bad. Seriously, historically bad.
Numbers That Make You Cringe
When the dude actually made it to the field, his performance was tough to watch. In just 145 plate appearances across 37 games, Polanco posted a horrific .148/.201/.230 slash line with a measly 20 wRC+. To put that in perspective, he racked up a -1.4 fWAR, which tied him with the Reds’ Noelvi Marte for the absolute worst mark in all of baseball. Think about that for a second: worst in the entire league. While it wasn’t the single worst season in Mets history, it’s the only one of their ten worst seasons by fWAR that’s happened this century. The last time a Met was this far below replacement level was fifteen years ago, when Ronny Paulino hit a -1.2 fWAR. And while Mark Vientos nearly matched Paulino this year with a -1.1 fWAR, Polanco still managed to be worse. That’s a huge problem for a team that shelled out $40 million.
Seattle Saw the Blueprint Early On
Here’s where it gets interesting for us here in Seattle. Remember Polanco’s first season with the Mariners in 2024? He struggled. But then, in 2025, something shifted. Our M’s started moving the vast majority of his playing time to the DH role, and guess what? He thrived at the plate. Polanco had played shortstop, second base, and third base in the past, sure. But the Twins started moving him off short way back in 2021, and by 2022, he was basically off the position entirely, outside of 30 innings. From 2022 through 2024, he was primarily a second baseman, occasionally hopping over to third. That track record, combined with the success the Mariners saw when we cut down his field time even more, strongly suggested Polanco was headed for a full-time DH role sooner rather than later. While the Mets might have hoped he could cover other infield positions in a pinch, significant playing time around the infield would have been a massive surprise. Even if his legs hadn’t turned into such a mess this year, playing first base as often as he played second for the Mariners last year would still have left the Mets with a ton of innings and games to cover at first.
What’s the takeaway from all this? Sometimes, you just gotta read the writing on the wall. Our Mariners figured out what Jorge Polanco needed to succeed, and it looks like the Mets took a costly detour. It’s a rough lesson for them, but for us, it’s a reminder that player health and understanding their evolving roles are everything in this league. Let’s see what the future holds, both for player evaluations and for our Mariners as they continue to grind through the regular season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Amazin’ Avenue.
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