Monday, June 29

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. MLB.com's Bill Ladson filled in on this edition.

After signing Jorge Polanco to a two-year, $40 million contract this past offseason, the Mets expected him to be the everyday first baseman, replacing Pete Alonso, who became a free agent himself and signed with the Orioles before the 2026 season. 

But Year 1 of that current contract for Polanco hasn’t gone well. On April 18, Polanco went on the 10-day injured list because of a right wrist contusion and left Achilles bursitis. He hasn’t played a big league game since April 14 against the Dodgers. After that game, in which he went 0-for-4, Polanco has a slash line of .179/.246/.286 with two RBIs. During the season, the Mets have used six first basemen, with Jared Young expected to get the lion’s share of reps at the position.   

“Nobody wants to be injured. From that aspect, it hasn’t been good,” Polanco said through interpreter Alan Suriel. “At the same time, we have to go out there and try to turn the tide.”        

As of Sunday, Polanco’s wrist is 100 percent, but there is some lingering pain in the Achilles. 

“Yeah, there is still pain there, but it’s a pain I feel like I can tolerate, that I can play through like a lot of players that play with some nagging injuries. ... But my ankle feels good enough to play out there," Polanco said.

When he is activated from the 10-day injured list, Polanco is expected to become the team’s designated hitter. He started a rehab assignment for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday and he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Lehigh Valley. 

This marks the second time Polanco has been on a rehab assignment. He was in a similar situation in late May, but the Mets had to halt the assignment on June 6 because of Polanco's lingering problems with the Achilles. He expects his current rehab assignment to be different.

“Now, I think I’ll be able to return because my legs feel even stronger,” Polanco said. “We put more of a work load in there, but I’ve been able to recover properly. With [the leg] being even stronger and having the right plan in place, I think I will return.” 

Polanco doesn’t have a target date as to when he will return to the big leagues. 

“There are more steps to take. There are probably more rehab games on the horizon for me, but we don’t have a specific date when I play in a big league game,” he said.

In Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Phillies, Mets right-hander Kodai Senga threw five innings in relief. His only blemish was a game-changing homer to Kyle Schwarber. 

Senga, who was demoted to the bullpen after allowing 32 runs (31 earned) in 27 2/3 innings in the rotation, entered the game in the fifth inning and held Philadelphia scoreless for two innings. 

Then came the pivotal seventh, and it was deflating for New York. 

The Mets were up, 4-3, but Senga started having problems on the mound. After Justin Crawford led off with a single and Trea Turner popped up to catcher Luis Torrens, Schwarber came to the plate.

The first four pitches Senga threw to Schwarber were forkballs, his best pitch. Schwarber was behind in the count, 1-2, when Senga decided to throw a four-seam fastball to the Phillies slugger, who didn’t miss it and hit the ball over the right-center-field wall to give the Phillies a one-run lead. It was Schwarber's MLB-best 30th homer of the season.

So why didn’t Senga throw his money pitch, the forkball?

“Given that point in the game and where we were in the count, it didn’t have to be a fastball,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “Hindsight is 20-20. If I was going to go fastball, it was because we were ahead. Preferably, [the pitch] would have been a little higher. It didn’t have to be a strike, given the count. There is a lot to think about now that I was out of the game.”

Senga ended up throwing five innings, allowing the two runs on four hits and one walk. It was his longest outing since April 5 against the Giants.

“There was aggression and everything. I thought he used his forkball more. That is an elite weapon and you saw hitters take bad swings,” interim manager Andy Green said. “It’s always been an elite weapon. It’s nice to see him use it in pivotal situations. I encourage him to do it. The fastball had life. He had good stuff. Depending on what our bullpen construction was going to be, we were going to use him short or long. We were pretty much forced into the long category today by who was available.”

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