Baseball

Jorge Polanco: the Mets sign him to play first base (where he has no experience)
Félix Forget
Jorge Polanco: the Mets sign him to play first base (where he has no experience)
Credit: MLB

In the last few days, the Mets lost the services of Pete Alonso. The big hitter, who has been the face of the franchise since 2018, has decided to continue his career in Baltimore.

Losing a quality free agent to a small-market team isn't exactly a good thing for the Mets.

So, from now on, the Mets have to find solutions. And with free agents at first base not particularly exciting, the club has decided to get creative to solve this problem.

The club has just agreed with Jorge Polanco on the terms of a two-year contract that will pay him $40 million a year.

That's (very) big money for Polanco.

And Polanco, who has spent his entire career at second base, third base, and shortstop (without being an excellent option defensively) will see time in those positions. But the plan is to see him mostly at first base and as a designated hitter.

And first base is interesting… because in his career (in MLB), Polanco has only one appearance at first base, where no outs were made. So he has one appearance, but officially, he's never even played a third of an inning in that position.

Polanco is coming off a season in which he hit 26 home runs for Seattle, and we've seen him have some big series. In practice, that makes him interesting… but one fact remains: he was signed to replace Pete Alonso, even though he never played first base.

Because with Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien set to occupy the middle of the infield, there's no real room for Polanco in those positions.

We'll see how it all pans out, but right now, the Mets are feeling a touch of panic as they try to put the departures of Alonso and Edwin Diaz behind them. And today's signing doesn't exactly help.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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