Saturday, November 14

Welcome back to the Mets Beat newsletter! Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007, including the past 17 seasons full-time on the beat.

NEW YORK -- One ray of light, at least, snuck through Citi Field this week when the Mets activated Francisco Alvarez from the injured list about a month ahead of schedule and revealed that Francisco Lindor has -- finally -- begun participating in baseball activities.

Injuries may not be the story of the Mets’ 2026 season, but they’ve certainly been a part of it, considering Lindor, Alvarez, Juan Soto, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr., Kodai Senga and several others have spent significant time away from the team. Given the size of the hole the Mets dug themselves in April, they’ll be hard-pressed to climb their way out of it without at least some help from returning players.

So even though injuries may not be the primary reason why the Mets fell to last place in the NL East, they’re still a significant reason why the club has struggled to improve.

“From the very beginning, they were players that were supposed to be in the everyday lineup,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Alvarez and Lindor.

For close to a month, the Mets played without four-ninths of their Opening Day starting lineup. While A.J. Ewing’s arrival, Carson Benge’s breakout and Jared Young’s resurgence all helped the Mets win their share of games over that stretch, the team hasn’t been able to rip off the type of season-defining run required to reinsert itself into the National League playoff picture.

Alvarez’s return from a torn right meniscus made the Mets a bit closer to whole, allowing team officials to dream on some improvement -- especially after Alvarez homered on Tuesday in his second game back. If Lindor can finish mending his strained left calf muscle before the end of June, his return would help layer that narrative.

But not every injury update has been good. Even if things go well for Lindor, he’s still probably multiple weeks away from a return. Polanco recently paused his rehab due to nagging Achilles discomfort and will probably be limited to DH duties once he returns. Robert hasn’t accomplished anything of substance in weeks, which means he won’t return anytime soon. Senga, meanwhile, complained of a minor but notable bout of ulnar nerve irritation in his right arm this week, adding uncertainty to what was already a fraught rehab assignment.

In other words, while a few Mets are making their way back, the cavalry isn’t necessarily coming. That’s why, when asked this week about the returns of some injured pieces, Mendoza was careful not to prop them up as panaceas. Even president of baseball operations David Stearns recently said that in future offseasons, he will need to reevaluate the way the team assesses injury-prone players.

“You can’t sit here and wait till Lindor, because I don’t know when that’s going to happen,” Mendoza said. “It was good to see Francisco Alvarez back in the lineup [this week], but we cannot just sit here and wait for these guys and look at them as saviors. We’ve got the guys in that room, and they have what it takes to go out there and win baseball games right now."

Mendoza recently earned his 200th win as Mets manager. How many wins did franchise leader Davey Johnson amass during his time with the team?

A) 551

B) 595

C) 632

D) 699

For those wondering if No. 3 prospect Ryan Clifford might soon join his former Minor League teammates Benge and Ewing at Citi Field, the answer is simple: probably not anytime soon.

Although Clifford has bashed his share of homers at Triple-A Syracuse, including seven over his last 19 games, he has also struck out more than 30 percent of the time during that stretch. That’s the exact type of flaw that tends to get worse, not better, in the Majors, which is why Mets officials want to see improvement from Clifford before they’ll even consider promoting him. To a certain extent, Clifford’s gaudy home run total is irrelevant.

Unlike Benge and Ewing, who are elite defenders and baserunners (and who feature short swings at the plate), Clifford is a bat-first prospect who must hit -- and hit with lots of power -- to succeed. He isn’t likely to provide significant value with his glove or his legs, so if questions are lingering about his ability to hit Major League pitching, the Mets want those answered before any sort of call-up conversation.

To be clear, team officials still envision a bright future for Clifford, who came to the Mets in the Justin Verlander trade in 2023. They would love for him to force his way into the Majors later this season, or in 2027 if his pace of development doesn’t improve. It’s just hard to see Clifford making that jump in the near-term future.

•  It’s not just the Major League Mets who have had precious few no-hitters in their history. Their Single-A affiliate, the St. Lucie Mets, went nearly 23 years without one before Cam Tilly and Elwis Mijares ended the drought with a no-hitter Tuesday night against Palm Beach. More details from Michael Avallone here.

• Old friend Max Scherzer recorded his 3,500th career strikeout this week, becoming the 11th pitcher in Major League history to reach that mark. Keegan Matheson had the story from Toronto on Scherzer’s latest milestone.

B) 595

Johnson spent just 6 1/4 seasons with the Mets, but he amassed a franchise-best 595 victories over that stretch. His .588 winning percentage (595-417) remains by far the highest in franchise history.

To subscribe to Mets Beat, visit this page and mark "Mets Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Mets or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.