The Mets waited out J.D. Martinez until the price became palatable.

But even a bargain, heavily deferred, $12 million pact for one season probably will cost the Mets around $19 million, considering the present-day value of the deal, the club’s payroll and a luxury-tax hit of about $9 million.

Steve Cohen deemed there was room in an already deep budget for a DH bat to provide lineup protection for Pete Alonso.

“We keep talking about being opportunistic, and I think that was an example of it,” the Mets owner said before Friday’s Opening Day at Citi Field. “It came down to a price that was reasonable. Remember, I’m in the 110 percent tax, so it’s not that price — it’s [that price] times two, plus.

“You can’t do too many of those because it blows the budget out, and obviously you still want to leave flexibility for during the year. But it came down to a level where we said, ‘Why not?’”

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If Mets fans need to be cheered up after a dreary Opening Day performance, the Doc Gooden documentary is now airing on SNY:

Here's a closer look at Rhys Hoskins' slide that angered Jeff McNeil and his teammates.

The Mets challenged that it was an illegal slide, but it was confirmed as legal.

Carlos Mendoza spoke about the Mets' offense, which produced just one hit, after the game:

Both Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor came to Jeff McNeil's defense after the game for his reaction to Rhys Hoskins' slide:

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Starling Marte was one of the only bright spots for the Mets.

His solo home run was the team's only hit.

Here's what he had to say after the game:

Rhys Hoskins gave his side of the altercation with Jeff McNeil, calling out the latter for being a sore loser.

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Jeff McNeil was still unhappy with Rhys Hoskins' slide after the game, and said that it's happened before between the two:

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If a Mets player threw a punch and landed it during an eighth inning shouting match with the Brewers on Friday it would have equaled the team’s hit total for the day.

Simply, the Mets got overmatched by Freddy Peralta and the Brewers bullpen, falling silent in a 3-1 Opening Day loss before a Citi Field sellout crowd of 42,137.

Starling Marte’s second-inning homer provided hope for the afternoon.

It turned out to be the Mets’ only hit.

Masters of Opening Day, the Mets lost their first opener since 2019 in Washington.

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The Mets lose, 3-1, in a feeble first showing of the season.

They finished with just one hit.

Tonkin pitched a perfect top of the ninth inning, and the Mets are now down to their last licks.

They still trail, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Mets -- you guessed it -- went down in order again in the bottom of the eighth inning.

They still have just one hit and still trail, 3-1, heading into the ninth inning.