Mets to reassess player evaluations after injury-plagued start

NEW YORK — Part of the New York Mets’ offseason overhaul was acquiring Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. for every-day roles knowing their injury track records were extensive. Six weeks into the season, with Polanco and Robert still on the injured list and no returns in sight, president of baseball operations David Stearns acknowledged his front office will reexamine its evaluation protocol.

“I think we absolutely have to look at our risk assessment on injured players or players who get injured once they’re here,” said Stearns, whose club had the worst record in Major League Baseball entering Tuesday’s series opener against the Detroit Tigers. “Certainly, we know we’re taking a level of risk when we bring players in with injury histories. We’re feeling that risk right now and it hasn’t helped that a number of our players have gotten hurt at the exact same time.”

Robert, 28, was acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox for utility man Luisangel Acuna and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley to start in center field after going on the injured list eight times over the past five seasons. He landed there for a ninth stint with a herniated disk in his lower back April 30.

Stearns said the team is consulting with specialists for Robert’s back, which is not improving as anticipated, and a timetable for his return remains unclear. The lack of progress factored into the team’s decision to call up A.J. Ewing, a 21-year-old prospect, to start in center field for his major league debut Tuesday after just 12 games in Triple-A.

“We would not have made the decision if we didn’t feel A.J. was ready to make the jump, so that’s first and foremost,” Stearns said. “The situation the big league club is in and the opportunity that’s here right now is certainly a part of it. But we would not have made the decision to promote A.J. if we didn’t think he was ready for the moment.”

The Mets signed the 32-year-old Polanco to a two-year, $40 million contract to replace franchise home run king Pete Alonso at first base — a position Polanco had barely played as a professional — after six stints on the injured list between the 2022 and 2024 seasons for back, knee and hamstring injuries. The team placed him on the IL a seventh time April 18 with a bruised right wrist and Achilles bursitis after playing 14 games — and just two at first base.

The switch-hitting Polanco has been cleared for baseball activities and took batting practice on the field from the left side Tuesday, but the bursitis remains an issue.

“We need to get asymptomatic with the ankle and with the bursitis,” Stearns said. “We’re not there yet. We have really good days, and then it flares up. We need to get asymptomatic so that we know he can go out there, play on a daily basis, run the bases freely, and we’re not there yet.”

Injuries, coupled with underperformance, have hampered the Mets’ offense and fueled their abysmal 15-25, last-place start.

Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, two of baseball’s most reliable stars, have both spent time on the injured list. Soto missed more than two weeks with a calf strain, and Lindor remains on the injured list with a more severe calf strain.

Lindor was placed on the injured list April 23 and spent the next week in a walking boot. Manager Carlos Mendoza said Lindor is feeling “better” and is scheduled to undergo another MRI by Thursday. Stearns said the exam’s results will allow the team to “map out what a return to play looks like.”

The Mets initially replaced Lindor at shortstop with Ronny Mauricio, but he fractured his left thumb at the beginning of the month and will miss six to eight weeks. Since then, Bo Bichette, who was signed over the offseason to play third base after seven major league seasons at shortstop, has been the team’s primary shortstop.

It’s been one of the several obstacles the Mets have confronted through the season’s first six weeks. As has underperformance across the second-most expensive roster in baseball. The Mets began play Tuesday last or tied for last in the majors in runs scored, OPS and wRC+. Still, Stearns insisted he believes his team can turn the tide and make a postseason run.

“I think we have the talent on the roster and the character on the roster to make a run,” Stearns said. “We’ve got a lot of season left. I’m not going to say it’s early. It’s not. We’re a quarter into the season. It’s not early anymore. But we do have enough season left to make a run and I think we have the talent to do that.”