Just before Game 1 of the 2026 World Series, Jon Heyman had a fresh angle on the Mets and their offseason: New York should have signed Nick Martinez.
It’s a strange time to make that case, and an even stranger one to make it after Martinez got tagged for two runs in the first inning of his World Series start.
The argument only really works if you lean hard on hindsight. Martinez is a far more interesting fit for the Mets now than he was last winter, when he was 35 and coming off a season that looked much more ordinary. In 2025, he went 11-14 with a 4.45 ERA, which put him more in the Frankie Montas lane than the sort of arm that would have had New York fans buzzing.
This past season changed the picture. Martinez posted a 15-6 record with a 3.10 ERA for the Rays, pushing himself toward the top of the free-agent conversation. That’s the version of Martinez that makes sense for a club like the Mets in 2027 and beyond: a short-term deal, a manageable commitment, and a pitcher who fits the kind of profile David Stearns might like.
But that is not the same as saying the Mets whiffed on him a year ago.
Yes, they could have signed him. No, that would not have been some glaring front-office failure.
The bigger issue for the Mets last winter was elsewhere, and if anything the sense around Martinez was that he was a fallback type, not the kind of arm the fan base was waiting for. New York clearly needed something closer to the Freddy Peralta level, even if that move came with its own problems once he was in the organization.
Martinez has always been more of a swingman than a headline starter, and the 26 starts he made for the Reds in 2025 were the most he had logged since returning from Japan for the 2022 season. He was already 35 at the time of free agency, which makes the idea of calling him a miss now feel more like a retrospective exercise than a real criticism.
The Fordham angle doesn’t change much, either. Martinez attended Fordham University, but that connection is about as relevant as it sounds. He’s from Florida and has pitched all over the country.
There are plenty of Mets mistakes worth picking apart. This one isn’t among them.
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Tylor Megill Suddenly Has Little Margin For Error With Mets
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Even if Megill is healthy, the path back is not simple. The Mets can still add more starting pitching through free agency or trades, which only tightens the competition and leaves Megill needing to show he can hold up and perform in a crowded mix. For a pitcher coming off a major surgery, that kind of uncertainty can make every inning this spring feel a little bigger. [Read more 🡒]