{"id":604020,"date":"2026-03-03T18:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/604020\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T18:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:11:13","slug":"ny-mets-manager-carlos-mendoza-provides-key-francisco-lindor-injury-update-ahead-of-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/604020\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Mets manager Carlos Mendoza provides key Francisco Lindor injury update ahead of opening day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/new-york-mets\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"New York Mets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Mets<\/a> continue to monitor Francisco Lindor\u2019s recovery as Opening Day approaches, and the latest signs point to steady progress. With March 26 circled on the calendar, the veteran shortstop appears to be moving closer to full baseball activity.<\/p>\n<p>Manager Carlos Mendoza addressed the media Tuesday morning and confirmed that <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/francisco-lindor\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Lindor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lindor<\/a> has begun taking important steps in his rehab, including playing catch, doing light defensive drills, and preparing to resume swinging the bat.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cHe played catch yesterday and he was able to catch the baseball,\u201d Mendoza said, according to SNY. \u201cHe\u2019s going to go through some light defensive drills. So now incorporating more baseball activity. Hopefully he starts swinging a bat\u2026 if it\u2019s not today, I\u2019m pretty sure tomorrow he\u2019ll start that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mets have avoided setting a strict timeline throughout the recovery process. From the beginning, the expectation was that Lindor would be ready for Opening Day, though that confidence has largely been rooted in his toughness and track record rather than a firm medical guarantee.<\/p>\n<p>  Why Lindor\u2019s track record matters <\/p>\n<p>Lindor\u2019s durability has been one of his defining traits. He has made at least 150 starts in each of the past four seasons and routinely plays through discomfort. After suffering a broken toe last year, he missed just one game before returning to deliver a key two-run double off the bench and ultimately appeared in 160 of 162 games.<\/p>\n<p>For now, all indications are positive. If Lindor continues advancing without setbacks, the Mets may very well have their franchise shortstop in the lineup when the season begins.<\/p>\n<p>SURVEY Will Francisco Lindor be ready for Opening Day?<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-poll__title-wrapper__question-xs jsx-3883365378\">Will Francisco Lindor be ready for Opening Day?<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-poll__vote-counter article-poll__vote-counter-69a717cda1c616357c3f8dae jsx-3883365378\">already voted 2 fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Mets continue to monitor Francisco Lindor\u2019s recovery as Opening Day approaches, and the latest signs&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,227,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203],"class_list":{"0":"post-604020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-francisco-lindor","10":"tag-mets","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkmets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116166596011283298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}