NEW YORK -- The Mets’ nightmare season continued on Saturday with unwelcome news from an MRI tube, which revealed that Juan Soto has a Grade 2 strain of his left calf and will miss significant time. The team placed him on the 10-day injured list prior to Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Field, recalling infielder Eric Wagaman.
Although the Mets won’t have a definitive timeline for Soto’s return until they receive additional medical opinions on his test results, they expect him to miss more than the 2.5 weeks he lost to a strained right calf in April.
“It’s not what we were hoping for,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He’s a guy we love having on the field. He’s a guy who loves being on the field competing. We’ll be without him for a period of time now.”
Soto did not consent to an interview on Saturday afternoon, according to a team spokesman.
So far as the Mets have revealed, Soto began feeling calf discomfort during a July 16 game in Philadelphia. Though Soto returned to the lineup two days later for the Mets’ next game, he sat out the series finale in Milwaukee on Wednesday. On Friday, he felt additional pain pushing off first base early in the game, prompting his exit midway through the sixth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers.
Asked if the team regrets allowing Soto to play through his injury, Green responded that it might not have made a difference.
“This last week, we gave him at-bats, we gave him rest in times when we felt it appropriate, and then yesterday he couldn’t get over the hump,” the manager said. “Is it possible we could have looked back and thought we could have moved a little bit quicker on this, given where we’re at today? Yes. I don’t know that that ultimately changes the situation we’re in right now. I respect somebody who’s trying to get on the field and play through things.”
Before this season, Soto had not been on the injured list since 2021, appearing in 632 of a possible 648 games from 2022-25. He’s been far less healthy this year. In addition to straining his right calf in April, Soto has battled elbow and hand ailments, and now another calf strain.
From a wider scope, this is the third significant calf injury for the Mets, who also lost Francisco Lindor for nine weeks earlier this season.
“It feels unlucky, to a degree,” Green said. “It hasn’t been the same mechanism for each player, and so when that’s the case, you just look at each player and try to design the best path forward. We’re doing that for him at this present moment. I know he’s disappointed not to be on the field tonight and for the weeks ahead.”
The Mets’ lone All-Star, Soto was batting .283/.408/.539 with 21 homers in 84 games before landing on the IL. For as long as Soto is sidelined, the Mets will proceed most days with an outfield of A.J. Ewing in left, Luis Robert Jr. in center and Carson Benge in right -- at least until or unless the team deals Robert, a candidate to be moved before the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline. Jorge Polanco will assume the lion’s share of DH reps in Soto’s absence.
Green acknowledged that the Mets will factor Soto’s “long-term importance to us” into his recovery timetable, understanding that he’s less than two seasons into a 15-year, $765 million contract. Still, Green pushed back on the notion that Soto might be done for the season. His injury is less severe than Lindor’s was, meaning Soto should return at some point in August or September.
In the interim, it will be impossible for the Mets to replace their regular No. 2 hitter and offensive focal point. Yet they have no choice but to trudge onward.
“Juan wants to be and expects to be a generational, Hall of Fame-type player,” Green said. “So the way he’s wired, he’s going to look at whatever he can to keep himself on the field going forward, and we’ll partner with him in trying to find what those answers are and if there are adjustments to make in anything from prep to recovery to anything that is possible to be considered.”