Francisco

Lindor

Lindor has also resumed baseball activities like fielding grounders and hitting in the cage. The 32-year-old will assuredly need a rehab assignment after missing over a month thus far with his calf strain, but this is the most positive development given for the shortstop since he suffered that injury. If all continues to progress, there’s a good chance that Lindor will be back before the start of July.

Mendoza mentioned that a new MRI on Wednesday showed “signs of healing,” but it sounds like Lindor is at least a month a way from returning, if not more given the potential of a rehab assignment. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo believes Lindor “figures to miss closer to two months or more.” He’s already missed the last two weeks and change, and that timeline would put him close to a July return.

“He’s going to be down quite a bit here,” Mendoza added. Lindor won’t be cleared to resume baseball activities until at least mid-May, which puts his likely return timeline somewhere in June, in a best-case scenario. The 32-year-old fantasy star hit the shelf with a left calf strain earlier this week. There isn’t an official return timeline from the Mets, but fantasy managers should anticipate Lindor missing a significant amount of time. His extended absence clears the runway for former top prospect Ronny Mauricio to make some noise at the highest level following a strong stretch at Triple-A Syracuse.

That means that even in the best-case scenario, Lindor won’t resume any baseball activity until mid-May. Mendoza also noted that the strain is in a “tricky part” of Lindor’s calf. It sounds like fantasy managers shouldn’t expect the superstar shortstop back until sometime in June at the earliest.

It’s unclear how the Mets will juggle their lineup with Ronny Mauricio up as of this typing, but presumably he or Bo Bichette will take over at shortstop. It’s not great news for Lindor, as Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he’ll be out for “quite a bit” and that there’s no timetable for his return. It’s a more severe calf strain than the one Juan Soto suffered. It could be months, rather than weeks, before Lindor returns.

This makes sense since Francisco Lindo injured his calf in Wednesday night’s game and was removed in the fourth inning. The Mets still have not announced MRI results for Lindor, but a trip to the injury list seems likely, and manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game that the Mets would likely call up somebody who has experience playing shortstop. Mendoza did not rule out simply keeping Bo Bichette at shortstop, but Mauricio has experience playing third base as well, so he could push Brett Baty for playing time. He’s worth an add right now in deeper formats since he was hitting .315/.362/.685 with six home runs in Triple-A.

Mendoza added that Lindor is unlikely to play in Thursday’s series finale against Minnesota and will undergo imaging to determine the severity of the issue. The 32-year-old franchise building block suffered the injury while scoring on Francisco Alvarez’s fourth-inning double. It certainly sounds like a trip to the injured list is in play. There should be some clarity on his status prior to Thursday’s contest. It would likely be a red-hot Ronny Mauricio coming up from Triple-A Syracuse to take Lindor’s roster spot, if he’s facing an extended absence.

Not great. Lindor clearly wasn’t moving at full speed and appeared to be in obvious discomfort while scoring on Francisco Alvarez’s RBI double in the fourth inning. The 32-year-old shortstop was replaced by Brett Baty immediately afterwards. He finished 2-for-2 with an RBI. He’ll presumably undergo further evaluation and imaging to determine the severity of the issue. There should be a definitive update on his status prior to Thursday’s series finale.

Things continue to go from bad to worse for the free-falling Mets. Lindor was replaced at shortstop by Brett Baty in the top of the fifth inning after going 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored. He singled and scored a run in the fourth inning before leaving the contest. He appeared to be in some apparent discomfort while rounding third base to score. An update on his status should be coming shortly.

It seemed like Lindor exercised some demons – both his own and the Mets’ – with an upper-deck three-run home run in the third inning. That moment of serenity eventually faded as the Mets blew yet another game, but Lindor appears to finally be on the right track. He has a .259 average and .805 OPS over his last seven games. Any hint of a breakout is much appreciated after the first few weeks that he’s had.