Right now, they\u2019ve got a major part of their offseason transformation unable to play first base since the second game of the season, when Polanco first began to feel discomfort in the area. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s been limited to DH duties since then and even that hasn\u2019t helped resolve the issue.<\/p>\n
Mendoza said Polanco felt it again Wednesday, which led to Thursday\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re saying it\u2019s day to day and there are good days and days when he feels it more,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201c[Wednesday] was one of those days [he felt it].\u201d<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s no telling how long Polanco will be dealing with the discomfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell,\u2019\u2019 the manager said. \u201cWe\u2019re watching it closely.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jorge](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/11-reacts-walks-back-dugout-124684593.jpg\")
Jorge Polanco (11) reacts as he walks back to the dugout after he flies out for the final out of the tenth inning at Citi Field, Sunday, March 29, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
With Polanco sidelined versus the lefty, Mark Vientos was at first base and Francisco Alvarez was the DH.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old Polanco played 138 games with Seattle last season, but had IL stints due to leg injuries each of the three seasons prior \u2014 sidelined by hamstring strains in both legs, as well as left knee inflammation.<\/p>\n
The lineup is already without Juan Soto, on the IL with a strained right calf and he hasn\u2019t resumed running yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re being cautious,\u2019\u2019 Soto told The Post of the IL decision following a 7-1 loss to Arizona. \u201cI want to be in the right spot when I come back. We have a plan and we\u2019ll follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soto, expected to be out 2-3 weeks after suffering the injury in San Francisco, is doing some baseball activities while he\u2019s out, playing catch and hitting in the cages and said he feels \u201cpretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/11-reaches-infield-single-first-125182533.jpg\")
Mets second baseman Jorge Polanco (11) reaches on an infield single during the first inning when the New York Mets played the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at Citi Field. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no timeline, though, for Soto to begin running, which will be the real test for when he might be able to return.<\/p>\n
A.J. Minter, expected to be a major piece of the bullpen last year before being lost after a torn lat required season-ending surgery, returned to action Thursday with Low-A St. Lucie. The lefty tossed a scoreless inning to begin his rehab process. He\u2019ll have to be activated by May 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good to see him ready to go,\u2019\u2019 Mendoza said. \u201cThe fact he was in real competition was a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another veteran reliever, Craig Kimbrel, also tossed a shutout inning for St. Lucie after he had a rough spring.<\/p>\n
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While David Peterson continues to struggle and Sean Manaea can\u2019t get his velocity back, Christian Scott had an encouraging outing Thursday for Triple-A Syracuse. The right-hander, out since 2024 Tommy John surgery, threw five scoreless innings against Buffalo.<\/p>\n
He sat in the mid-90s and allowed just a pair of hits, a walk and whiffed seven.<\/p>\n
Tobias Myers entered Thursday having not pitched since Saturday and hadn\u2019t thrown more than 30 pitches since his season debut on March 26. Mendoza said Myers was still built up for \u201c40-45\u201d pitches, but \u201cif we need to use him for one inning in high-leverage, we will.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Mets had the highest Opening Day payroll at $352.2 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always pressure here in New York,\u2019\u2019 Mendoza said. \u201cThere are high expectations, regardless of payroll. We\u2019ve got to go and not only get to October, but deep into October.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jorge Polanco was out of the lineup Thursday against Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez with lingering left Achilles soreness,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,120,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-672176","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-jorge-polanco","10":"tag-mets","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkmets","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116378507868113112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672176","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=672176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}