NEW YORK -- The Mets are in last place. Following what team officials expect to be a comprehensive Trade Deadline selloff, they figure to remain in or around the basement for the rest of this season.
Juan Soto is injured, currently taking things week-to-week with his strained left calf. Soto probably won’t return for a month or more, meaning he’ll be of limited help to the Mets the rest of the way.
Given those two realities, it becomes natural to wonder whether Soto will return at all. What’s the point?
Yet when asked Monday if he expects to return this season, Soto, in his first interview since straining his calf, responded: “Definitely. One hundred percent.”
“We think the timelines line up that there’s enough of a season left that it’s worthwhile to get one of your best players back on the field and go win baseball games,” was how interim manager Andy Green put it. “One, the fans that show up deserve to see the best that we have available, and he’s the best that anybody has available. So once he gets to that spot, it’s about the pride in New York and the pride in your team and going out to win the baseball games that you have left to play. If he’s healthy, that’s the right decision for him and for us.”
In answering the question, Green was clear to note that “we obviously want to get to the other side of injury risk. … Like, you want to get him completely healthy before you even engage [in] that conversation.” Once Soto is healthy though, which should happen at some point in late August or September, Mets officials won’t question his return.
“His burning passion to be on the baseball field. … That passion is one of the things that makes him really good at what he does,” Green said. “So I would expect that passion to push him to get back in September at some point in time. Who knows if sooner? But I think right now, we would just kind of ensure that he’s in a good spot, that everybody feels like we’re not putting him in future injury risk and that we’re getting him back on the field, and then going to win baseball games with him.”
Having a healthy Soto sit out the final weeks of this season would mean asking him to go seven months or longer between Major League games -- not ideal for any player. It would also mean robbing Soto, who cares deeply about his place in Major League history, of a chance to continue bolstering his future Hall of Fame resume. While none of that would directly help the Mets this season, a happy Soto is hardly a bad thing.
Bubble-wrapping players rarely works, even if the player in question has been on the injured list twice with calf injuries -- soft-tissue injuries that tend to heal fully. Nor is benching a healthy Soto something he or the Mets want. It’s worth noting that when asked if he regrets playing through calf discomfort, which he did for about a week prior to landing on the IL, Soto responded: “No, I don’t.”
“I’m trying to go out there and help my team win ballgames,” he added. “Whatever it takes. Sometimes, it’s tough. We were hoping that it would go the other way, that I’d get better and healthier and I could keep going. But it didn’t.”
For Soto, an injury-tarnished season is not what he envisioned this spring, when he spoke openly about trying to win a World Series and a National League MVP. He’s not about to sit out any longer than he needs to. Soto also believes he’s “young enough to recover quick.”
"I’m focused on this year,” Soto said. “My focus is right now and what we can do right now today, go day by day, try to help my team as much as I can. Definitely, I’m hurt right now, but hoping to be back soon and trying to help as much as I can.”