00:00Joel Sherman back with three things, still in Port St. Lucie, still with the Mets,
00:04who announced on Wednesday what we thought was coming when they made their initial
00:11proclamation on Tuesday that Francisco Lindor was going for a consultation and could face
00:18surgery on his handmate bone where he had a stress reaction. Indeed, he needed it and had it
00:24on Wednesday, according to the Mets. It puts him on what they hope is a six-week trajectory to be
00:32in the starting lineup on opening day. This injury generally is very predictable from surgery to
00:40return to full play at six weeks. That's 42 days if my math is right, and from surgery to opening
00:49day,
00:49Citi Field, Polskine's Pittsburgh Pirates is 43 days. Will Lindor make it back? His history is
00:56he's a tough guy. He plays a lot of games, and he's played through a lot of stuff. Toe injury,
01:02fractured finger, a very bad back in 2024 that he muscled through to the end and hit one of the
01:09biggest home runs of that year to help the Mets get into the playoffs late in the year.
01:13And so I would not bet against this player. No one with the Mets would bet against this player.
01:19One of the things about this injury, though, is sometimes players come back in full,
01:25but the power lags as they get strength back into the hand. And Lindor's an important part of the
01:33power quotient for the Mets, and maybe even more important. Remember, the all-time home run leader
01:39for the franchise, Pete Alonso, signed in the offseason with Baltimore Orioles. He's gone.
01:43Last year, Lindor, Soto, and Alonso combined for 112 homers. It was exactly 50 percent, half of the
01:50224 the Mets hit, which was the second most in their history. Now Alonso's gone, and would Lindor
01:58be compromised even if he came back on time to be there for opening day? It does lead to the
02:03question
02:04about where else the Mets will get power. They'll get some of it, they believe, from what are the
02:10likely 3-4 hitters in their lineup, which is Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco. But those guys are
02:16more hitters, especially Bichette, who will hit home runs as part of their profile.
02:23It will help, but where else can they get it? So for the three things today, why don't I go
02:29through
02:29three guys I think are important to the Mets, keeping their end of the power up this season.
02:35And I think a good place to start is Francisco Alvarez, in part because Alvarez had handmaid bone
02:41surgery last spring training. And when he returned, he did have trouble with some power. I think it was
02:48one homer in 24 games, like 4-50. And then down the stretch, he had seven in his final 26
02:56games. So
02:56the power came back. Clearly, he showed, especially in that first full season when he hit, I believe,
03:0225-26 homers, that there's power there. Having a home run hitting catcher is a huge separator from
03:11many other teams. If Alvarez is able to do that and catch at a high level, it's a real separator.
03:17It's why I think he's such an X factor for this team this year, if he can be that guy.
03:25Number two, Mark Vientos. Look, who do they get? 2024 Mark Vientos, 2025 Mark Vientos. He is playing
03:36for Nicaragua in the WBC. I talked to him on Wednesday. He mentioned that he talked to their
03:43manager for that team. Dusty Baker, believe it or not, is managing Nicaragua. And the plan is for him
03:51to be mainly a third baseman for that team in the WBC. But third base, that's closed now. As long
03:57as Bo Bichette can handle it and is healthy, he's going to play the majority of games there.
04:02Let's not forget, the Mets were high enough on Vientos coming out of 2024 that he was going to
04:09be the first baseman until Pete Alonso signed it about this time last year as spring training was
04:14opening to come back and play in 2025 with the Mets. Otherwise, Vientos was going to play first
04:19base. If Polanco is able to stay healthy, there's probably 110, 120 games of Polanco at first base,
04:26maybe more than that. So Vientos will play some there, but the majority of the at-bats would
04:31seem to be coming from DH as long as he holds up his end of the bargain, which is he's
04:35got to hit
04:36and hit for power. If he does, I think he'll get a lot of at-bats and it will be
04:40very important
04:41for the team which of those players show up. For number three, I want to talk about Luis Robert
04:46Jr., who I thought was a good trade for the Mets, especially with some of the other stuff they did.
04:53It is interesting that a key guy in the package that went back is Luis Angel Acuna, who would be
04:59the backup shortstop for the Mets, and they know they would get high-end defense and base running
05:04from him, and they hope a little offense, but he was sacrificing this trade to bring in Robert.
05:09And look, if Robert does nothing else but what he did last year and not a great year for him,
05:15which was play the heck out of center field, steal lots of bases at a high percentage and really beat
05:20up lefty pitching, that would help the Mets. It would improve their center field. But as recently
05:25as 2023, he hit 38 homers. He was a top 10 in the AL MVP. He was a dynamic player.
05:33The last two years,
05:34it's been a combined 14, 14, 28 homers the last two seasons in two injury-plagued seasons. Can he stay
05:41healthy and find 2023 again? Because if he does, look, he's going to hit down in the lineup for the
05:49Mets, fifth, sixth, seventh, someplace in there, unless he kind of hits like he did in 23 and earns
05:54his way up. And so the Mets will hope by asking less of him, do they get more? As opposed
06:00to the
06:00White Sox, the Mets have other weightlifters who can potentially carry them and they don't have to
06:05rely on Robert. And they'll hope by that attitude to get something out of him. You know, the Mets
06:13have an opportunity to have a long lineup here. It's those three guys. Brett Beatty is a guy they'd
06:19still like to give 400 to 500 plate appearances. They're going to add corner outfield and first base
06:25to his repertoire this spring training. See if he can handle it. There'll still be a little third
06:31base, a little second base, maybe some DH. If he hits and you know, his home run numbers were much
06:37better in the second half last year per at bat than in the first half as he got more and
06:42more
06:42comfortable and got better and better. Is that going to come? And look, the Mets love Carson Bench,
06:47who was the first pick that David Stearns had as president of baseball operations. He is right now,
06:55known more. Good defender, especially big arm. He did some pitching while he was, you know,
07:01before he became a Met in when he was schoolboy. But and he's known more for contact right now than
07:11power. But there's some power in there. And people think as he fills out and gets to know his swing
07:17and pitching better, that there'll be some real power there as well. How quickly does that come?
07:23Does he make the team? Does the bat come quickly? Again, it's a way that the Mets get to have
07:29a long
07:29lineup. There is that potential there for it to be that. But one of the keys to that, obviously,
07:38is that Francisco Lindor comes back, is the leadoff hitter, and is kind of the Francisco Lindor of the
07:44last few years, who, again, produced homers at a pretty good rate, about 30 per year,
07:49plus some stolen bases, plus play shortstop. The Mets need that player. He had his surgery on
07:54Wednesday. They believe he's going to be back in six weeks. It's something to watch this spring training.
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