The Mets’ infield overhaul is looking less like a bold reset and more like a mess they can’t escape.
At the center of it is the decision to let Pete Alonso leave and hand first-base duty to Jorge Polanco. ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle singled out that swap as the Mets’ biggest disappointment this season, but the numbers make the case even louder than that.
“The big one was the overhauling of the position group, which, among other things, left Alonso as an Oriole and the Mets with a yawn-inducing platoon at first base that barely cleared replacement level," Doolittle writes. "Opening Day first baseman Jorge Polanco started the first two games there, and that was it. Very disappointing.”
That’s putting it mildly. Alonso was not just a productive power bat, but a popular player too, and the Mets’ attempt to replace him has gone sideways fast. Polanco has been one of the most disappointing moves made by any team since the end of the 2025 MLB season.
In 37 games, Polanco has produced -1.4 bWAR for the Mets while collecting 135 at-bats. Alonso, meanwhile, has been in every game for the Orioles and has piled up 4.1 bWAR. He also has more hits, 151, than Polanco has at-bats this season.
The Mets made other ugly offseason moves, including the additions of Bo Bichette, Freddy Peralta, and Luis Robert Jr. But the Alonso-for-Polanco swap stands apart.
It has a real claim to being the worst move of the entire offseason, and for the Mets, it’s an all-time bad exchange.
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Mets Replacement Plan For Jeff McNeil Looks More Uncomfortable Now
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Batys path, though, has made the transition feel less straightforward than the Mets likely wanted. The organization had envisioned him growing into a dependable everyday utility piece, but his current offensive output has not come close to matching the level McNeil once reached as an All-Star. The cost savings are real, but so is the risk that the Mets are asking a player still searching for consistency to fill a much bigger role than he has yet fully claimed. [Read more 🡒]