STERLING STARLING
Marte eyes bounce-back year after Amazin’ ’23 drop
PORT ST. LUCIE — He’s 35 and coming off the kind of season — betraying body and declining stats — that raise worries about the viability of how much he has left.
If all goes great, he goes back toward the top of the lineup. If all goes badly, his contract becomes an albatross — and not just for this year.
Is this DJ LeMahieu or Starling Marte?
The answer is yes. Neither is the most vital guy in a New York lineup this season. But both are bellwethers about the length and vitality of those orders. The early word from their camps is both have stability and explosiveness back in their lower halves, after LeMahieu’s year-plus travails following a fracture at the base of his right big toe and Marte following double groin surgery that derailed him in 2023.
Both New York offenses malfunctioned last season, and though there was no singular reason, the cliff-drops by LeMahieu and especially the catalytic Marte were key.
But neither team is going to quit on them. They still see upside and — quite frankly — because LeMahieu has three years at $45 million remaining and Marte two years at $37 million. So the New York clubs will want to know for sure about players born 88 days apart in 1988 before deciding to relegate them.
At this moment, there is reinvestment.
Aaron Boone has stated the Yankees lineup would flow best if LeMahieu leads off and gets on base in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, akin to the second half last season (.377 on-base percentage) when a revival perhaps began. Carlos Mendoza was noncommittal about the Mets’ order, but clearly the engine hummed in 2022 when Marte was healthy — hitting second behind Brandon Nimmo, and in front of Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
Marte took, at minimum, a symbolically positive step toward that destination Wednesday when he played for the first time this spring, leading off and playing right field against the Cardinals. He lined the first pitch he saw from Miles Mikolas to right field in the first then struck out on three pitches against St. Louis closer Ryan Hesley in the third.
When asked as a first question afterward how he felt, Marte did not wait for a translation to Spanish, saying in English, “Good … about time.”
Marte was an All-Star and nearly a 4.0 Wins Above Replacement (Baseball Reference) player in his Mets debut season in 2022. Last year he lacked the eruptive quality that has been so distinct in his career, creaking to a negative WAR (-0.8) and playing just two games after July 16. Akin to LeMahieu’s 2023 second half for the Yankees was Marte playing winter ball for the Mets, an 11game cameo for Leones del Escogido that displayed Marte’s improved health before onlookers that included Mendoza and David Stearns.
And you do have to watch Marte. Because it is tough to tell from physical appearance how Marte is doing because even last year — like always — he had a physique that appeared allergic to body fat. So the gauge is on how he moves.
“When you’re that type of athlete and then when you have your midsection kind of taken away from you [due to the surgery], it zapped his power, his explosiveness and running speed,” hitting coach Eric Chavez said. “Everything that makes him athletic was completely taken away. It’s almost like he has a new toy back. The explosiveness is back.”
Lindor related that he told Marte on Wednesday how he sees him waiting on the pitch longer again, because Marte trusts that his ability to snap the barrel of the bat has returned. So, Lindor said, has the calm in how Marte pursues a fly ball or effortlessly whips a throw: “He’s back to relying on every single tool he has.”
Or as Mendoza said about why he is encouraged: “You can see the way he is moving around and how the ball is coming off his bat and the bat speed.”
The Mets feel better about their alternatives if Marte is not back. They believe the swing changes that allowed DJ Stewart to excel late last season have been refined further. Tyrone Taylor, obtained from Milwaukee, is a near textbook definition of a proven fourth outfielder.
But Marte changes the lineup dynamic. Lindor cites the game evolving toward a more athletic style that Marte has always offered, and “he can still play it — steal bases, defense, score from first base, drive the ball, put it in play. This is his game.”
The early signs are all good. But this is the time of year for positive early signs. The long run is withering, especially for a 35year-old returning from a down season and surgery.
Marte, though, said he expects to be himself. And the difference of what it means if he is right or wrong was exhibited in what the Mets had in 2022 and didn’t in 2023
“Definitely, we missed what he brings last year,” Chavez said. “We kind of had a trickle-down through the lineup. But when he’s there and explosive and he’s stealing bases and causing havoc and getting on base in front of the big boys, we’re definitely a better team.”