Now, the other guy the Mets are taking it very slow with is Starling Marte.

Starling Marte is still dealing with, I think it was a leg injury from the second half of last year.

And considering Marte's age and considering his injury history, again, same thing.

I don't mind it.

I'm going to give Carlos Mendoza the benefit of the doubt.

I don't think Starling Marte needs that much ramp up time to be ready for the start of the season.

But Marte, to me, and this is why I'm higher on him than maybe a lot of other people, I think he's going to benefit from being a part-time player.

And one thing I've been able to do over the last couple of years, whether it's with Met players or Yankee players, is forget how much a guy makes.

Because what a guy makes, especially in the last year of their contract, is a sunk cost.

It's just that's what they make.

So I know it's easy to say, Evan, you know, you talk about Marte as a part-time player

as a right-handed D.H.

How can you pay a guy like that $19 million or whatever exactly to the dime his salary is?

And my attitude is, well, I'd rather use a player in their best possible role that gets the

most out of them,

then play a guy too much because they make too much money or eat a contract to send

the guy away because he makes too much money.

Because those two other options playing a guy more because he makes a lot of money

or writing a check to send them away because they make too much money are two examples

of cutting your nose off despite your

face. If Starling Marte can excel in a role in which you're only asking him to play a couple

of days a week against left-handed pitchers and be a valuable bat, then to me I see value in him.

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