Before the New York Mets’ series opener against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field, president of baseball operations David Stearns held a press conference and provided some injury updates on a slew of players.
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Francisco Lindor
After manager Carlos Mendoza stated that Francisco Lindor will wear a walking boot for the next week and be reevaluated in three weeks after suffering a left calf strain on Wednesday and being placed on the 10-day injured list, Stearns couldn’t provide a best-case scenario for his return timeline. He did, however, mention that Lindor could progress rather quickly depending on how the healing process transpires.
“I can’t even answer that right now,” Stearns said. “I think we are not going to be able to provide really more substantive information for three weeks, I think we got to see where this is in three weeks. See how the healing goes and then we’ll be able to provide hopefully some more clarity. From my understanding there, if all goes well, we can see a relatively quick progression there. But we’ll see where we are in three weeks.”
Lindor was hitting .316/.333/.500 with two home runs in his last 10 games prior to going down with his injury. On the season, he is slashing .226/.314/.355.
It goes without saying that losing Lindor for any period of time as the club is scuffling is a huge blow. Ronny Mauricio has started at shortstop in each of the two games he has missed up to this point, though Bo Bichette could also move back to his natural position on occasion depending on how the former performs.
Lindor mentioned that he would like to return before the All-Star break, but the timeframe for his return won’t come into full view until he gets reevaluated. Juan Soto missed 15 games earlier this month with a calf strain of his own, though Lindor’s is considered to be more serious.
Jorge Polanco
Regarding Jorge Polanco, who was placed on the 10-day IL with a right wrist contusion on April 18 (retroactive to April 15), Stearns revealed that he begun baseball activities on Friday. The 32-year-old is set to undergo more testing over the weekend, and his status was described as being “week-to-week”.
“Every day, we get a little more information,” Stearns said. “He’ll go through some more testing this weekend. My expectation would be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week, we’ll be able to have a little bit more clarity, but the best we know right now is week-to-week.”
Polanco signed a two-year deal worth $40 million with the Mets in free agency this past offseason after hitting 26 home runs with an .821 OPS for the Seattle Mariners in 2025. He had been battling through Achilles bursitis before suffering his wrist injury, which noticeably hampered him while keeping him out of the lineup for games at a time. Polanco has batted .179/.246/.286 in 61 plate appearances so far this year.
A.J. Minter
Left-handed reliever A.J. Minter is in the midst of a rehab assignment, during which he’s put up a 1.93 ERA over 4 2/3 frames between Triple-A Syracuse, High-A Brooklyn and Low-A St. Lucie, after missing a majority of the 2025 season with a left lat injury. In 13 appearances last year after agreeing to a two-year deal worth $22 million with the Mets, he logged a 1.64 ERA over 11 innings.
Minter isn’t too far away from rejoining the big-league club, with Stearns stating that early May is a reasonable timeline for his return.
“We’re still on the same timeline,” Stearns said. “Early May. First week, 10 days of May I think is realistic. That’s roughly, I believe, where his rehab stint goes through. A couple of benchmarks we still gotta clear — two out of threes, we gotta clear back-to-backs, sort of the dirty inning cleanup, those types of things. Make sure he feels good and then we’ll get him back here and he can help us.”
