LOS ANGELES — In an emotional postgame clubhouse teeming with free agents with decisions to make, J.D. Martinez has at least made his first one.
The 37-year-old, free agent to-be wants to keep playing baseball.
Whether he keeps playing baseball, though, is yet to be determined.
“If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, go from there,” Martinez said about his presence on a 2025 roster, which will depend upon teams’ interest in the designated hitter who is invaluable around a clubhouse and has a history of hitting, but who tailed off this season.
Martinez spoke in the aftermath of the Mets’ 10-5 loss in NLCS Game 6 at Dodger Stadium that sent the Mets home.
In Martinez’s case, that means he will return to Miami and see his newborn daughter, whom he has not held since she was born. Martinez was there for the birth in early September and then rejoined the team during the final sprint of the season, when every game and every win was needed.
He will go to his family, be dad for a while and then begin training, believing “100 percent” that he would play if the offer is correct for next season.
“Felt great this year,” Martinez said. “Felt like I had a streak of bad luck, but I think my expected numbers were good.”
The 14-year pro is a six-time All-Star and hitting savant who was a hired gun, a slugger signed to a one-year deal, for the Mets.
He was solid during a first half in which he posted an .806 OPS with 10 homers in 66 games but struggled in the season’s final months and the postseason, when he lost time to Jesse Winker.
A reunion with the Mets does not seem likely, but Martinez is open to one.
“These guys are great. I had a great time here,” said Martinez, who finished with a .725 OPS. “How could you not want to come back after the year we had?”
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Martinez spoke optimistically about the team’s future. He will become one of many Mets free agents, including Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Jose Iglesias.
Martinez watched the team start 0-5, joined the club late and saw it sink to 11 games under .500 in early June, and was part of the uprising that helped the Mets stun their way to Game 6 of the NLCS.
He said the club has a “good core” and he would not be surprised if the Mets are among the final teams next year, too. But the longtime major leaguer believes the 2024 Mets were special.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams and been to the playoffs a bunch of times,” Martinez said. “This is one I’ll always remember just because of the group that I did it with.”