Steve Cohen throws cold water on Mets-J.D. Martinez rumors

For the first time in the Steve Cohen era, the New York Mets had a fairly quiet offseason. Outside of a failed pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Mets were extremely conservative with their spending, sticking to only short-term deals.

The Mets having a quiet offseason coming off of an incredibly disappointing 2023 campaign has resulted in expectations being lower than they've been in quite some time. The Mets went from a team that was seen as legitimate World Series contenders to begin last season to one that hopes to squeak into the playoffs.

One thing that will help them get closer to being a playoff team would be bolstering their offense. They have good pieces with Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo leading the way, but their lineup is incredibly top-heavy. Adding a guy like J.D. Martinez would help immensely, but that should not be expected after what Steve Cohen had to say when speaking to the media on Sunday.

It sounds like the Mets will stick to their plan, won't pursue J.D. Martinez

The Mets plan on seeing what they have with their young players before potentially going all-out in the 2024 offseason. It's not what Mets fans want to hear, but that's been their plan all offseason.

One of those young players is Mark Vientos, a 24-year-old who is expected to receive a bulk of the DH at-bats. While Vientos does have exciting raw power, his production when given the chance to hit at the MLB level has been subpar to say the very least. He's appeared in 81 games over the last two seasons, slashing .205/.255/.354 with 10 home runs and 25 at-bats in 274 plate appearances.

This spring hasn't been any better for Vientos who has just seven hits in 41 at-bats (.171 BA) with 14 strikeouts entering play on Sunday. Going into this season with him as the starting DH doesn't set the offense up for much success.

It's one thing to guarantee playing time for Brett Baty, a player who was the 21st-ranked prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline entering last season, but doing the same for Vientos, a player who was not a top-100 prospect, while Martinez is just languishing away on the open market just doesn't make much sense.

Perhaps this can be Cohen simply talking down interest to get Martinez's asking price down, but all signs continue to point to the Mets passing on him no matter what in order to have enough at-bats for Vientos to play consistently.