The Mets placed outfielder Michael Conforto and second baseman Jeff McNeil on the injured list on May 17, but both players are going to miss much more time than the 10-day minimum. Mets acting general manager Zack Scott said Monday that Conforto and McNeil have “significant hamstring strains” that will shelve them until late June, per Laura Albanese of Newsday.
Conforto has largely been an offensive standout with the Mets since he debuted in 2015, but this news continues a difficult platform season for the 28-year-old. He’s off to a so-so start (by his standards) with a .230/.356/.336 line and a pair of home runs in 135 plate appearances. It’ll now be several more weeks before Conforto can try to rebound in advance of a potential trip to free agency.
The Mets’ outfield, meanwhile, is in a tattered state. Along with Conforto, they’re down Brandon Nimmo, Kevin Pillar and Albert Almora Jr. – all of whom have been on the IL for at least a week. As a result, the team is forced to rely on a starting alignment of Cameron Maybin, Johneshwy Fargas and Khalil Lee in the grass. It’s obviously not ideal for New York, but the club is nonetheless up a game and a half in the National League East.
Like Conforto, McNeil hasn’t been at the top of his game this year, though he was enjoying a solid month prior to his IL placement. Overall, the 29-year-old has batted .242/.336/.374 with three home runs over 113 trips to the plate, and the versatile McNeil has been the Mets’ No. 1 choice at the keystone. Jose Peraza and Jonathan Villar have also racked up at least a handful of starts there, but the latter has mostly handed third base since another of New York’s top hitters – J.D. Davis – landed on the IL on May 2 with a sprained left hand.
It’s okay. Nicki Minaj-looking, goofball will save the day for the Mets.
Puig made his debut with Aguila de Veracruz on Friday. He did not miss a beat, notching three hits, scoring a run, and driving in another.
Late June? This has become rather surreal
If the Mets are within 5 games of 1st come July 1st they’re my pick to win the NL East. They need Alonso, Davis and Nimmo back like yesterday.
They’ll certainly be within 5 games. I don’t understand your logic. It’s not like they’ve been playing much worse since the injuries. They are a deep squad and a lot of the replacements are hitting better than the guys they replaced. The one thing their clearly missing is the excellent pitching by Walker and deGrom, but deGrom comes back this week. I’ll also add that when the calvary arrives for the Mets, it’ll also be arriving for several other NLE teams. It’s going to be a dogfight all year, and I honestly don’t see the Mets and Braves ever falling out of contention.
*they’re clearly missing
IMO, if everyone is at relative full strength the Mets pitching is the difference by the end of the season. I pick them over the weaker staffs of ATL and PHI even though they probably have the advantage on offense. I don’t see MIA offense supporting their solid pitching enough and WAS is just overall blah. None of them are as devastated as NY right now. Bury the Mets now or never win the NL East. Not going to be any easier when Lugo and Thor are back. Just my opinion.
@Stud Sadly we never really saw the Mets or Braves playing their best yet, but the Mets pitching has been lights out when healthy. So I’m with you. I think it’s a two team race.
PHI is an absolute mess. ATL pitching has been much better lately and their offense the best in the division. Marlins are fairly balanced which is saying a lot when you look at the NLE run differentials. Can’t ignore them. NATs will battle the Phillies for last place.
You are to hard in Philly. I Get nervous playing against them.
Late June is a hard bite. I’ve got tickets to a Subway Series game in early July so hope to see them both back well.
Damn.
First post I’ve read here that made me want to be back in The City. If only for an evening. Sounds like a blast, @BleacherCreature.
@Ducky I’m really looking forward to it. More so to hang out with my buddies of which three are die-hard Mets fans. I think like 10 of us are going so far. Hope you can make it back soon!
Mets should just contact the Rangers and trade for Gallo…make it happen!
I am not optimistic. I do not believe we will see Carrasco or Nimmo this year. The GM mentioned “nerve problems” with Nimmo, and Cookie’s hamstring was TORN, not strained. That’s a tough recovery – even if you do not have chronic leukemia (CML).
I suspect McNeil, Conforto, Alonso will be out even longer than forecast – that is, until the break.
What about Syndergaard? Will be on a strict pitch count/innings limit. Same with Lugo. Walker essentially has a lat strain. He’s gone for weeks.
Lindor, Dom Smith, McCann’t – they have got to begin hitting. One of the only bright spots have been Villar and Tomas Nido.
If Philadelphia, Washington or another team puts together a run, this could be over a lot faster than Met fans realize.
I don’t understand the recent shock about Carrasco. It was called a tear in March mlbtraderumors.com/2021/03/mets-rumors-carlos-carr… and his simulated game a few weeks ago clearly did show that he was ready to field his position. As with McNeil and Conforto, he needs to be fully fit before he’s back. I can’t recall anyone returning quickly and successfully from a hamstring injury other than Stroman, who had a cramp, and Cano, who had “help.”
It’s not an arm injury and his hamstring doesn’t need to be 100% for him to pitch. He’s been out of action for a while and still needs a “Spring Training”.
Sign Dee Gorden
Stranger things have happened, but he is available and he’s not involved in Olympic qualifiers now.
I see what you did there.
If today’s injury to Fargas is serious, they may need to see if deGrom can play a corner OF. I’m not really serious, but he may be a better hitter than whoever they would bring up next.
Cameron Maybin is starting off with the Mets as if he was a Pirate.
The White Sox have a trio of AAAA guys stashed at Charlotte – Brian Goodwin, Nick Williams, Tim Beckham. I’m sure other teams do too. At this point the Mets may have to part with some AA pieces to get some better bodies.
The best you can hope for for guys like that in a trade is cash and organizational depth. A lot of these veteran AAAA types are out of options so teams have no choice but to DFA them off the 26 man when regulars return. Would not be surprised if we see dozens of players logging MLB roster time with multiple organizations this year. Dumpster diving, everyone’s getting a pick in this year.
The whole NL east is so lucky we got injured this badly! It’s truly sad.
Lol
Conversely, the Mets are lucky the entire NL East sort of stinks. They’re not really losing much ground. although I will say the Braves are starting to look pretty good. Marlins are getting their key players back soon so they’re going to gain some ground as well. Phillies are an absolute mess and have some key injuries (Mets have far more). Nats don’t look so hot either.
I’m more scared of Phillies than marlins. I think it’s a 3 team race!
Since people like to look in the past for determiner of outcomes then let’s talk 2015 when the Mets were horrible till the allstar break. We all know how that ended.
Every year is a different monster, if half that group comes back healthy the Mets definitely have a chance at a playoff spot. I don’t think anyone really thought a world series was possible but hey, ya never know right.
Tommy Pham isn’t doing great right now maybe the Mets can get him cheap ? He can’t be worse than Maybin.
Take him in a hearbeat