The New York Mets need reinforcements, and they got some mixed news about the status of Juan Soto and Jorge Polanco.
The New York Mets have two important players who are struggling with injuries, and yesterday they got mixed news about infielder Jorge Polanco and left fielder Juan Soto.
Polanco is still struggling to deal with the effects of what was described was finally described as Achilles bursitis. It took the Mets’ medical staff a while to arrive at this diagnosis, as the injury was initially diagnosed as tendinitis.
The new diagnosis left Polanco optimistic that he could play through it while taking inflammatories, but the injury bothered him on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The injury started when the regular season began, and now it’s lingering.
“There are days where he comes in and he feels really good [and] he goes out there and does a little bit of defensive work,” manager Carlos Mendoza said in an update written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “And then there are days where he feels it more. We’re watching it closely here, and will see what happens.”
Today is a pivotal day for Polanco going forward. He’s scheduled to be reevaluated, and if his recovery isn’t progressing, a stint on the 10-day IL hasn’t been ruled out. The Mets signed Polanco in the offseason to play first base and stabilize their shaky infield defense, but so far he’s played just 20 innings at the position.
Polanco’s slash line is just .179/.246/.286 slash line in 61 plate appearances, and while the Mets aren’t expecting a lot of offense from him, Polanco does need to contribute to a lineup that relies more on balanced hitting this year.
The news on Soto, however, is better. He started a running program eon Tuesday, which got owner Steve Cohen excited enough to post about it on X. On Wednesday Soto took live batting practice against minor league pitchers at Citi Field, and Mendoza said “he came out well.”
The Mets need Soto badly right now, and not just for his bat, which is significant given that his slash line was 355/.412/.516 with a home run and two doubles in eight games. Soto’s presence in left means the Mets don’t have to rely on retreads like Tommy Pham and MJ Melendez to hit, and the team is already in a hole with Caron Benge hitting just .150. It would also take some of the pressure off of center fielder Luis Robert Jr. as the lone big bat in the middle of the lineup.
The Mets will be taking an eight-game losing streak into Wrigley Field to start a three game series against the Chicago Cubs today, and they badly need to show some offense and play a complete game after being shut down and swept by the Dodgers.