Jorge Polanco could be the face of these Mets.
He’s highly paid, has been injured and played poorly when he was on the field.
The Mets roster is filled with that type of player this year and if it stays that way, the team will look considerably different by the trade deadline.
So with the clock ticking — and the Mets in last place in the NL East — Polanco’s return from Achilles bursitis and a right wrist contusion will have to be a step in the right direction.
If it’s not, the Mets will be that much closer to having to consider tearing down the roster.
Polanco could be back from the IL this weekend, as the Mets begin another must-win series Friday in San Diego, their season still teetering near irrelevance.
When they signed Polanco to a two-year, $40 million deal in the offseason with the idea of having him replace Pete Alonso at first base — and as one piece of a makeover that would make up for the loss of Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil at the plate — the hope was that the 32-year-old would at least come close to replicating the production he had in Seattle last year.
Instead, Polanco never got going offensively and had an OPS of just .532 through 14 games before he hit the IL.
And without Polanco, who didn’t do much in five minor league rehab games split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, the Mets haven’t gotten much out of first base.
Mark Vientos has continued to struggle on both sides of the ball, and though the lefty-swinging Jared Young has hit well since returning from his own IL stint, the Mets aren’t looking for him to be their regular first baseman.
Polanco isn’t expected to take that role either when he gets back, as the Mets figure to be cautious with him, given his Achilles issue that is likely to linger all year.
As Carlos Mendoza noted a week ago, Polanco is “gonna feel” the injury throughout the season.
“We have to keep it to a point where [it’s] ‘I can tolerate this,’ ” the manager said in May. “Because if not, he’s gonna be shut down for a long period of time.”
The switch-hitting Polanco has generally hit well from both sides of the plate and, if he can return to the form he had with the Mariners a year ago, would deepen a lineup desperately in need of lengthening.
With Bo Bichette in the midst of a season-long slump — although perhaps his four-hit day Wednesday was a good sign — Marcus Semien also not hitting and Francisco Lindor still out with a strained calf, the Mets have had to rely too much on Juan Soto, as well as rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing.
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If the Mets are going to make an effort toward getting back in the wild-card race — they started Thursday six games back of the final spot with seven teams ahead of them — they’ll need to move quickly.
They followed up a four-game winning streak in Queens by dropping two of three in Seattle and will face a Padres team that lost its fifth consecutive game Thursday and has dropped nine of its past 10.
The Mets, despite the rough series against the Mariners, have still won five of seven but will have to do more than that to start inching up the standings.
A 2025 version of Polanco would at least provide some help in that regard, but the one they’ve seen so far this year has been an all-too-familiar disappointment.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
