Mets' Luis Guillorme out at least a month with right calf strain
The Mets' Luis Guillorme sits on the field after he was injured while fielding a single by the Red Sox's Rafael Devers during the sixth inning in the continuation of a suspended game Saturday in Boston. Credit: AP/Michael Dwyer
Luis Guillorme’s season probably isn’t over, but it just got a lot shorter.
He suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right calf, which usually requires 4-6 weeks to return from, the Mets announced Tuesday. That puts him in a late August/early September window.
Manager Buck Showalter said that news was “about as expected” after Guillorme got hurt Saturday and went on the injured list between games of a doubleheader. He has used a walking boot in the days since.
“It’s going to be a while,” Showalter said. “Once you get the grade back and what’s going on there behind the scenes, so to speak, you get a pretty good timetable that usually players follow pretty closely.”
Guillorme became a favorite of Showalter’s last year but this season regressed in most statistical categories, including defensively, which long has been his key to holding a job in the majors. He was hitting .238 with a .304 OBP and .347 slugging percentage when he hurt his leg.
In his absence, Danny Mendick, called up from Triple-A Syracuse, appears to be in line for an extended chance to re-establish himself as a major-leaguer. He plays the infield and outfield and is under team control contractually through the 2026 season.
Pham still out
Tommy Pham said he needed “one more day” to deal with his right groin injury before returning to the lineup Wednesday. He said previously he expected to be back Tuesday.
The main issue: “I want to feel more confident” running at full speed, Pham said.
Showalter noted that the problem has less to do with tightness and more to do with “different levels of apprehension” of physically playing “without thinking about it every step.”
“We’re hoping that being able to turn him loose completely is imminent,” Showalter said. “He’s a really good judge of where he is physically. He’s pretty frank about it. We trust him.”
A more severe injury to Pham, whose .827 OPS is the best on the Mets, would ruin his value ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline. He is among the Mets’ top trade chips.
Marte gets moving
Starling Marte took batting practice and ran the bases Tuesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, tangible steps forward while he is sidelined by migraines.
However, the Mets are “not there yet,” Showalter said, regarding a commitment to activating Marte on Thursday, the first day he is eligible to return from the IL.
“I talked to him a couple of times today. He’s getting there. We’re not ready to make that commitment yet,” Showalter said. “We’ll see how [Wednesday] goes. We’ll make a decision after that based a lot on what he’s telling us. He’s had a good three days. He needed it.”
Spring things
A highlight of the Mets’ 2024 spring training exhibition schedule, released Tuesday: a home-and-home series with the Yankees, their first meetings at that time of year since 2018. They’ll play in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on March 5 and in Tampa on March 22.
Overall, their Grapefruit League slate looks a lot like it does most years, with the vast majority of games coming against geographically convenient clubs: the Marlins, Cardinals, Astros and Nationals.
The first game is Feb. 24, a Saturday, in Port St. Lucie against the Cardinals. The schedule ends with a split-squad day, for some reason: March 24 versus the Nationals and at the Marlins.
That is a curious arrangement, since by then clubs have trimmed their rosters so much that it is difficult to field two teams.
Last year, the Mets had a split-squad doubleheader on the first day of exhibition play, which also was weird.
“I saw it right away,” Showalter said. “We must’ve complained so much that they decided to do it at the end.”
Showalter also joked that maybe he won’t be the Mets’ manager by then.
Personnel news
The Mets called up righthander Elieser Hernandez from Syracuse and put him on the major-league IL with a right pec strain. Doing so preserved a bit of flexibility relating to 40-man roster technicalities.
Acquired from the Marlins in November, Hernandez hasn’t pitched in the majors at all this year because of shoulder, oblique and now pec injuries.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
