Ahead of the Mets’ game against the Tigers this evening, manager Carlos Mendoza announced that the team has shut Jesse Winker down from baseball activities, which likely brings an end to his season.
Signed to a one-year, $7.5 million deal that had incentives that could’ve brought his salary up to $9 million, Winker made just 81 plate appearances with the Mets this year. And he didn’t hit all that well in his brief time on the field, either, as he put up a .229/.309/.400 line with one home runs and
a 94 wRC+.
In his absence, the Mets have used Starling Marte and Mark Vientos as their designated hitters, and both players have performed better than Winker did. Marte has hit .277/.360/.446 with seven home runs and a 129 wRC+ as a DH, while Vientos has hit .231/.282/.455 with six home runs as a DH. Like Winker, Marte’s time in the field has been extremely limited in an effort to prevent injury. And while Vientos hasn’t had much in the way of injury issues, he’s the Mets’ most defensively-challenged option at third base this year and seems best suited to slot in at DH.
