Reese Kaplan -- Snag a Little Fish While Waiting on the Whales

While there has been quite a bit of discussion here and elsewhere in the media as well as across bar stools among Mets fans about the likelihood of the team acquiring Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and bringing back one or more of Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino, sometimes it’s the small things that are just as important but seem to get swept under the rug.  

I’m not talking about offering a deal to Jose Quintana nor re-upping J.D. Martinez for his age 38 season. 

No, the question here is what is it worth to pay the OMG team leader from 2024, Jose Iglesias?  Now before we delve into his magical NLCS-ending season with the Mets, let’s take a look at the career output.  It’s pretty noteworthy.

Beginning his MLB career back in the year of of 2011 with the Boston Red Sox, the well traveled little guy has played for the Tigers, Reds, Orioles, Angels, Rockies and Mets.  During his long career he’s always been known more as a surprisingly effective hitter than as  a stellar fielder.  The numbers as a hitter back it up.  He’s sitting on a career batting average of .283 and if he played every day he’d rack up 7 HRs and 54 RBIs to go along with 9 SBs.  Going into his age 35 season, he’s probably not going to be selected by anyone to be a regular penciled into the lineup every game, so how does he do as a part time player?

Well, anyone who saw even a handful of Mets games since his call up made somewhat out of desperation during the dark days of April and May can attest to what kind of a spark plug he became for the team.   Remember, his arrival coincided with the early terminations of David Stearns’ roster additions Zack Short, Joey Wendle and the return of Brett Baty.  

When this trio didn’t get things done it opened the door for reinforcements from AAA but instead of AAAA type veterans the Mets instead turned to a man who in 2015 for the Detroit Tigers was a member of the All Star team. 

Not only did his singing career help morph into the OMG photo opportunities for every home run hit, but in the years in which he couldn’t manage a Major League contract, he reached deep down inside himself to produce an other worldly output whether he played 2B, SS or 3B.  With other injuries to Jeff McNeil it opened up even more opportunity.  So how did he do?

For the 2024 season Iglesias hit .337 (which is not a typo).  He hit 4 HRs and drove in 26 which was on par with what BaseballReference.com projected for him on an annual basis.  The outlier was the batting average and the intangible value he gave was how he always seemed to be around every major scoring opportunity whether on the bases or in the dugout with the OMG sign.

So for all of the attention paid to the whales in the free agent ocean, maybe instead it is time to pay attention to the smaller fish who likely wouldn’t cost a fortune to bring back to Citifield.  When he was a full time player his high water mark for salary was $5 million back in 2022 for Colorado for whom he hit .292 as a nearly 500 AB player. 

If the Mets came back and offered him a one year guaranteed deal with an option for the next around $4 million would that be enough to get him to agree to return to the club for 2025 and perhaps beyond?  Bear in mind he was earning chicken feed in salary compensation in 2023 and 2024, so that jump to $4 million would be pretty attractive for a guy who would be backing up whomever starts in the infield,  

Still, when was the last time the Mets had a part time player who could hit like that?  Was it Wally Backman?  During 1984 through 1986 he hit .289 for the team.  That’s the kind of output the Mets might get from Jose Iglesias on the roster.