Mets unlikely stars Jose Iglesias, Mark Vientos add new chapter to dream seasons

MILWAUKEE — Jose Iglesias and Mark Vientos, half the excellent Mets infield but less than one percent the robust payroll, are the stars hardly anyone saw coming.For a song (and not a song heard as often as Iglesias’ New York hit “OMG”), these guys might rank No.

2 and 3 behind team MVP Francisco Lindor among Mets hitters currently killing it.Mets baseball president David Stearns seemingly bats close to 1.000 on his moves, but in terms of bang-for-the-buck goodness, the call-up of Vientos and the signing and subsequent promotion of Iglesias continue to top a near-perfect list (see below for a long yet partial list).They are 1 and 1A.The alleged-underdog, upstart Mets entered their wild-card matchup with the Brewers on a high, won with the playoff-clinching victory down south against the hated Braves, and yet again the out-of-nowhere tandem of Iglesias and Vientos helped keep the flow going here.

The Mets’ 8-4 victory in Game 1 was a team effort, but the surprise dynamic duo was again in the middle of things.Mets owner Steve Cohen knows more about great investments than almost anyone this side of Warren Buffett, and Iglesias and Vientos make a combined $2.24 million ($1.5M for the very veteran Iglesias and the $740K minimum for the kid Vientos), or 0.66 percent of the team’s league-high $341M payroll.The budget is steep but the team easily looks worth it today.Iglesias’ case is quite the head scratcher.

His plight as a .283 career hitter with a great glove who was forced to sign four straight minor-league deals is the one that remains hard to believe.Lindor says he deserves a multiyear contract now, and who can argue that?Even if he didn’t author the team’s fun theme song as alter ego Candelita, he’s been a joy around the Mets, on the field and in the clubhouse after he was signed originally for Triple-A depth and sure hands.It’s hard to fathom why he’d become a winter pariah.

Teammate J.D.Martinez said, flat out, “Analytics [screwed] hi...