![Mets pivoting from J.D. Davis to J.D. Martinez ended up saving season](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/newspress-collage-cgzxeh2qw-1719446783369.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1719432628&w=1024)
Mets pivoting from J.D. Davis to J.D. Martinez ended up saving season
NY Post
J.D. Davis needed a job after the Giants released him late in spring training, and he was strongly considering a reunion with the Mets, who sought an experienced right-handed bat.
Numerous text messages were exchanged between Davis and Brandon Nimmo — with Davis asking about the Mets’ new regime, the organizational depth and whether he would be a fit returning to Queens.
Ultimately, Davis chose Oakland mostly because of the opportunity for regular playing time — something the Mets couldn’t offer him. Davis was told he would play against left-handers if he signed with the Mets, but he likely wouldn’t be full-time in the lineup.
“I would barely be playing,” said Davis, now a Yankee following his DFA and trade from Oakland.
Who knew in March that missing on Davis would be such a turning point of the Mets’ season?
Mets officials soon circled back to another J.D. — as in Martinez — and with time dwindling before the end of camp and his price tag dropping, signed the veteran DH to a one-year contract worth $12 million that includes deferrals.
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On one level, it’s hard to shake this part of it from your mind. Think about how many times you and your best friends from college talked at the tail ends of after-hours parties about putting enough scratch together a few years after graduation to maybe, someday soon, rent a house down the Jersey shore or out in the Hamptons for a week.