Mets Need to Make a Decision on Jorge Polanco Soon

Things are getting ugly for the New York Mets who dropped their seventh straight game on Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets are now 7-11 on the season and in last-place in the NL East division.

At the forefront of their struggles is the offense, which has scored a total of 10 runs during this losing streak. They're also without their best hitter in Juan Soto (right calf strain, 2-3 week timeline) who just began his running progression, per owner Steve Cohen.

Nobody likes to lose but I saw some “ green shoots tonight “. On offense, Lindor had two hits including a home run. Bichette got a double hitting it to left field as opposed to recently being right field prone. Benge got a solid hit. Soto started his running progression today.…
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) April 15, 2026

But Soto isn't the only position player that's injured. Newcomer Jorge Polanco has Achilles tendinitis that he has been playing through this season. This has relegated him to DH duties despite the fact that the Mets brought him in to play first base.

The bigger issue is that Polanco doesn't look healthy and has been unproductive at the plate. So far, the switch-hitter is slashing .179/.246/.286 with a .532 OPS, one home run and two RBI with a -0.3 bWAR in 14 games. Polanco's sprint speed was also 27.1 ft/sec last season and is down to 25.4 ft/sec this year.

Polanco was signed to a two-year, $40 million deal to be one of the Mets' top bats. It hasn't worked out that way and it's time for the Mets to place him on the injured list.

The Mets need to play it safe with Polanco given there is 144 games left in the regular season and hopefully a postseason left to play. They must let the 32-year-old rest his Achilles with the hope that he can return and contribute to the Mets' lineup.

The Mets sent Polanco for an MRI last Thursday, which revealed no structural damage and instead showed bursitis or inflammation in his Achilles. They have insisted that he will not require an IL stint.

However, Polanco's bat is hurting the Mets more than it's helping their offense. This will be a lingering injury issue throughout the season if the Mets don't choose to IL him.

For that, it's time for the Mets to make the decision to IL Polanco. The Mets signed Polanco to help replace Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo in the lineup. It has not worked out thus far and he hasn't been healthy. The team needs to place him on the shelf so he can properly heal.

The Mets took a risk signing Polanco due to his extensive injury history during his 13-year big-league career. But when healthy, Polanco can hit 25-to-30 homers and post a 2.5-5.0 bWAR. That's what the Mets need.

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