J.D. Davis needed a job after the Giants released him late in spring training and was strongly considering a reunion with the Mets.
Numerous text messages were exchanged between Davis and Brandon Nimmo, with Davis asking about the Mets’ new regime, the organizational depth and if 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. He 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?
Team 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.
Martinez has simply been the player that saved the Mets’ season over the past few weeks, with his bat and the “it” factor he has brought to the clubhouse.
As respected as any hitter in baseball, Martinez is the guy consistently needling his teammates, pushing them to improve, while offering ideas on how to get there. It was Martinez, during a May 18 hitters’ meeting, who introduced the idea of players taking accountability for their at-bats, with explanations needed if a hitter goes against his pregame plan. The Mets have thrived offensively since that meeting — Francisco Lindor was moved to leadoff on the same day — and Martinez’s .863 OPS hasn’t hurt.
The Mets had won 14 of 18 games when the Subway Series resumed Wednesday at Citi Field. They were within a win of moving to .500. It’s probably safe to say the storyline would have been different had they signed Davis instead of Martinez.
“If [Martinez] is not on the team, I don’t know what would have happened,” Francisco Alvarez said. “But I want to thank God because he’s with our team.”
Alvarez likes to watch Martinez take batting practice and the manner in which he focuses on his task. In the clubhouse, Alvarez has come to appreciate that Martinez speaks to him in Spanish.
“His Spanish is not that good,” Alvarez said. “But he is working on it.”
Martinez was asked where he would be if the Mets signed the other J.D.
“Probably home fishing,” Martinez said.
That’s because Martinez was resolute not to take a pay cut from the $10 million he received last year from the Dodgers. Even at 36 years old, that wouldn’t have been warranted for a player with Martinez’s résumé who produced an .893 OPS last season.
Martinez takes a cold-blooded approach to the game, and for that he is unapologetic.
“I am a hired gun,” he said. “That is what [teams] look at me as, and that is what I look at myself as. I have had so many tracks along the way. I could have been with the Red Sox for life and finished my career there … . I could have been with Detroit and finished my career there, but at the end of the day, this is a business.”
Even so, Martinez isn’t afraid to admit he loves his situation with the Mets — the players, staff and ballpark all appeal to him.
Davis is looking to resurrect his career with the Yankees and understands there was a residual effect to his decision to shun the Mets’ offer in spring training.
“It worked out great for them,” Davis said. “J.D. is a professional hitter. Obviously, he’s been there, done that, and proved he can hit righties and lefties, so good for them.”
Sometimes it’s Plan B that works out better than Plan A.