The Mets don’t expect Jesse Winker to return this season, manager Carlos Mendoza tells reporters (including Mike Puma of The New York Post). Winker has been sidelined since the middle of July with a lower back injury. He began a rehab assignment last week but has been shut back down from baseball activity, suggesting he suffered some kind of setback.
Winker had a productive 2024 season, batting .253/.360/.405 between the Nationals and Mets. Most of that production came early in the season with Washington. New York nevertheless brought Winker back on a $7.5MM free agent deal. They expected him to take the majority of the designated hitter playing time against right-handed pitching.
Injuries cost him that opportunity. Winker suffered a significant oblique strain in early May. That kept him out of action until shortly before the All-Star Break. He returned for two games and three plate appearances before going back on the shelf. His rehab stint in Low-A last week lasted two games.
Winker’s season probably comes to a close with a .229/.309/.400 slash in 81 plate appearances. He’ll return to free agency this winter and might be limited to minor league offers. The Mets will continue giving Mark Vientos and Starling Marte the majority of the DH at-bats. They’ve each been very good in the second half. Winker probably wouldn’t have pushed them for a ton of playing time even if healthy, but he could’ve played a meaningful run as a left-handed bat off the bench.
I just learned that he’s still in the MLB
Hit a meaningful homerun in last years postseason
I mean he was a decent player just last year…
…when he was playing for a new contract.
Oh anybody that sits in LF when he’s playing knows. Spends the entire game yelling at the fans lol
Ouchie.
Shame. Hope he gets well soon.
Many of the 2024 Mets that were retained were probably better off not being resigned.
Missed out on Jose Iglesias.
as in.. they missed out on a minus 0.7 WAR player with a .558 OPS and 56 OPS. They didn’t miss out, they passed o him. And they did it to allow more playing time for young IFs like Baty. And it was worth it.
Yeah, but like OMG!
Yes Clubhouse hypeman and DJ. There goes team camaraderie, in the toilet. And wherefore Grimace?? If Mets miss the postseason , we know where to point.
Some teams never learn when it comes to signing free agents coming off their best seasons. Like Santander, Tyler O’Neill, Eduardo Rodriguez last year, and countless others. Bo Bichette will be another disappointment, having a great year now on a contract drive after being bad last year.
Sorry Hank will have to disagree on Bichette. He’s a keeper. It was last season he was just banged up too much and couldn’t get into a groove. But this season follows his track record from 2021-2023 just about perfectly. I hope AA signs him, that would be a swell move. (But my guess is he re-ups with the BJ’s).
Gives a reason for Baty and Vientos to platoon next year too
Not sure what or how you figure that. This has zero impact on next year. Winker was gone at the end of this year anyway.
Baty and Vientos are already getting more than platoon playing time anyway. Baty has improved over the course of the season and is hitting well the past 6 weeks or so. And Vientos seems to have found his 2024 again. So why would you reduce them to a straight platoon?
What this does is it clears the path for Vientos to DH and Baty to play 3rd every day, thus keeping Vientos’ subpar defense off of the field.
Baty is nearly a 3 WAR player already and will he even finish with a half season worth of stats? So then basically a 6 WAR player. Every team in the league pines for a 6 WAR third baseman. (If they currently lack one.)
Yeah, thats part of where I was going. I’m seeing different numbers that would make him more like 3.5 to 4 WAR player But still something most teams would want.
Another operative point about that is that his ceiling could still go higher, and the Mets have him for 4 more years. So letting Iglesias go was sensible.
Couldn’t happen to a douchier guy.
What’s this hate for Winkler? Examples?
Not sure his history tbh
He’s done nothing shitttty to anyone in mlb or the fans. He’s emotional on the field. Mets management sees it positively or they wouldn’t have had him back.
Didn’t get along with his teammates in Seattle. The beat writer said that Winker had a rep and other players didn’t like him, given as a reason why free agents didn’t want to sign on a team with him. There’s enough stories out there to suggest that Winker rubs people the wrong way
Actually it was one aforementioned comment by a GM throwing an injured player under the bus. Certainly not enough stories to say he’s a dbag.
This is a worn out or completely false narrative. He gets along extremely well with home team fans and is constantly interacting with them playfully throughout the game. He’s definitely a jokester. (Yeah yeasties,in terms of his work ethic, that was questioned somewhat in Seattle. Too happy-go-lucky I guess. Didn’t like all the jogging and early drills.)
You’ve gotta take a closer look at his time in Milwaukee clearly. Was upset fans booed him when he hit an abysmal .199 while taking up 10 million on a small market team. Picked a fight with Willy Adames randomly during a game last year, again because of how upset he was that he got booed there. Continued to trash Milwaukee in the press. Again, because the fans booed him.
It’s also not just Seattle fans or his time there that has been stated as to why people think he’s a d bag. I’ve seen plenty of Reds fans who’ve said they were thrilled when the Red traded him.
He’s a player that if he’s on your team and at least performing, he’ll get along with the fans. But the moment you boo him because he’s not performing, all the sudden he acts like he’s the most wronged person in all of baseball. You know, because fan bases NEVER boo somebody who isn’t performing.
His mutual disliking of the city of Milwaukee and the way people felt about him here even got a bar to have $1.99 pints of beer “in honor” of his batting average during his time with the Brewers.
@brewingsblue82 crying about a .199 average and a professional athlete making $10 million dollars is quite small-minded… Sorry, small-market.
Get well soon, Jesse Winker!
@GB…Sure it could have, could have happened to you.
Henry Winkler would have been better this year for the Mets. Heyyyyyyy!
The Fonz would only play for the Milwaukee Braves
Noted.
I was happy that they signed him in the offseason. Clutch player and a much needed lefty DH. However, I’ve realized that I was wrong and that Winker is a bum. He is lazy and would rather smoke weed and chew tobacco then actually train. He came into training camp out of shape. Doesn’t stretch out/warm up enough before a game, which is the reason as to how he pulled his oblique throwing a baseball. He basically does the baseball equivalent of James Harden, without the talent that Harden has
These GD stoners! I wonder if Bellinger is finally off the reefer, he seems way more serious & intense than he was in LA and Chicago.
You need to go face-to-face with a MLB player once in your life, man.
He’s getting better. With the Mariners, he gave up in July.
I hope you never have to suffer back injuries.
With Milwaukee im not even sure he tried.
Milwaukee is winning. Focus on that instead of his .199
Would it have even cost any more to hire Timmy Trumpet? Could have been clubhouse DJ, hypeman, of course Edwin entrance player, and it wouldn’t have even used up a roster spot. Funny teams don’t do this.
Never understood why they brought him back
Because, coming off of last year, Vientos was the 3B since Baty was not yet major league ready. And Marte could not hit RH pitching. So they threw another $7 mil at the payroll to have Winker and Marte fill in the DH role.
I think they shopped Marte hard and couldn’t find a deal they liked
And since they were stuck with Marte, they had to supplement him with someone who could who could hit RHers.
Winker is a curious case. I watched his minor league development in Cincy’s system and he seemed to be sure thing as a hitter. Plate discipline and knew the strike zone never swinging at bad pitches. High BA and OBP. Not a great fielder but you can overlook defense somewhat if you’re an elite hitter. He began his career with the Reds as expected hitting well but things went south and he was never the same. Rumors in Cincy had him being a head case and a bit of a jerk. Sad for what could have been.
Couldn’t happen to a better A hole.