Pair of high profile clubs going different directions with their DH plans

Earlier this offseason, the Mets were frequently rumored to be interested in adding a bat to their DH mix after parting ways with Dan Vogelbach at the non-tender deadline in November. It now appears the club may have other priorities, however. 

According to a recent report from Will Sammon of The Athletic, the club intends to stick with its internal options at DH rather make a splash on the free agent market for a player such as J.D. Martinez or Jorge Soler, at least without prices falling “dramatically.” Sammon goes on to note that the club did not aggressively pursue deals with outfielder Teoscar Hernandez or first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

The news isn’t necessarily a surprise given comments from president of baseball operations David Stearns last month, which indicated that the club wasn’t interested in taking opportunities away from young players with veteran additions this winter. To that end, Sammon indicates that the likeliest use of the DH in Queens this year figures to involve plenty of playing time for 24-year-old slugger Mark Vientos, with DJ Stewart and Starling Marte also getting time at DH in addition to occasional reps in the outfield.

Vientos has struggled to a .205/.255/.354 slash line to this point in his big league career, but has just 274 trips to the plate in the majors under his belt. The youngster crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .306/.387/.612 slash line in 61 games at the level last year and owns a career .247/.377/.499 line across six seasons in the minor leagues. The 30-year-old Stewart, meanwhile, spent parts of five seasons in a part-time role with the Orioles to roughly league average results at the plate but showed a bit more promise after joining the Mets on a minor league deal last year. Stewart slashed a solid .244/.333/.506 with 11 homers in just 185 trips to the plate across 58 games with the club last year, though that strong power production came with a hefty 30.3% strikeout rate.

Marte is a much more established hitter at the big league level than the other two likely members of the Mets’ DH mix. The 35-year-old veteran of 12 major league seasons boasts a career slash line of .287/.343/.445 and posted a 134 wRC+ as recently as 2022, but struggled badly in 341 trips to the plate last year amid groin, neck, and migraine issues last year. While Marte figures to be penciled in as the club’s everyday right fielder, the presence of both Stewart and Tyrone Taylor as other corner outfield options figure to give the Mets flexibility to utilize the DH spot for Marte on a semi-regular basis in hopes of keeping him healthier throughout the 2024 campaign.

While the Mets appear to be stepping away from the DH market in favor of internal options, it appears that the Red Sox still have interest in adding a right-handed bat to their lineup to replace the production of Justin Turner, who recently signed with the Blue Jays on a one-year deal. Boston was heavily connected to Hernandez before he signed in L.A. and was reported as a likely landing spot for Adam Duvall. More recently, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com opined that a reunion with Duvall still makes for the Red Sox even though his free agency “isn’t as close to a resolution” as those past reports seemed to indicate at the time. Should the 35-year-old slugger ultimately land elsewhere, Cotillo suggests that the likes of Garrett Cooper, C.J. Cron, Donovan Solano and Randal Grichuk could be potential fallback options for the club. Recent reporting has also linked Boston to veteran outfielder Tommy Pham.

It’s worth noting that each of those suggested options has a defensive home outside of DH. While the presence of Triston Casas at first base leaves the likes of Cooper and Cron likely to spend a majority of their time at DH if either were to sign in Boston, Solano has experience all around the infield and could fill a similar role to that of Turner last year as a right-handed hitter who can fill in at first, second, and third base while also getting regular at-bats out of the DH slot. Duvall and Grichuk, meanwhile, have experience at all three outfield spots and could join Tyler O’Neill as a right-handed complement to the club’s lefty-swinging outfield bats such as Masataka Yoshida, Wilyer Abreu, and Jarren Duran. Pham would likely fill a similar role, though he’s largely confined to the corner outfield spots and DH at this point in his career.

While Cotillo indicates that a bat that fits more around the margins of the club’s roster is the most likely addition for Boston to make to its lineup at this point in the winter, he doesn’t completely rule out a more significant addition. Cotillo cautions that a larger addition to the club’s roster is “unlikely at best” given the club’s recent comments, but nonetheless suggests that Soler could be a fit for the club if the club manages to clear payroll space. Reporting last month indicated that the club has fielded trade interest on both Yoshida and veteran closer Kenley Jansen, though a deal involving Jansen appears more likely than one involving Yoshida as things stand.

If the Red Sox can find a way to fit a Soler signing into their budget, he’d likely provide a major boost to the club’s lineup. The slugging outfielder is coming off a phenomenal season with the Marlins where he slashed .250/.341/.512 with 36 home runs and 24 doubles. That sort of production could be transformative for a Boston lineup that got just a .242/.305/.393 line out of its right-handed hitters last year. That slash line is good for a wRC+ of just 86, a bottom-four figure among major league clubs in 2023. By contrast, Soler posted a 126 wRC+ and owns a cumulative 117 wRC+ dating back to the 2018 season.

One bat of significance the Red Sox have no plans to pursue this winter, Cotillo notes, is Martinez. The veteran slugger slashed a strong .292/.363/.526 during his five-season tenure in Boston and crushed 33 home runs in just 117 games for the Dodgers last year, but Cotillo reports that the Red Sox have no interest in a reunion with their long-time DH. While Martinez’s bat is undeniably valuable, he lacks the ability to play the field demonstrated by other options Boston is reportedly considering and, per Cotillo, the veteran’s approach was not “universally loved” in the Red Sox clubhouse and contrasted with the style of leadership exhibited by Turner that made the 39-year-old so popular among his teammates last year.