CHICAGO (AP) — The New York Mets placed infielder Jorge Polanco on the 10-day injured list on Saturday before dropping their 10th consecutive game, another small administrative move in a season already being dragged around by injuries, payroll pressure and a losing streak that keeps chewing through the roster. The move was made retroactive to Wednesday, and Polanco has a right wrist contusion.
Polanco, 32, is batting .179 (10 for 56) with a homer and two RBIs in his first season with New York. He signed a $40 million, two-year contract with the Mets in December, a reminder that even the richest clubs still end up managing bodies like inventory when the results go bad. The Mets’ opening day payroll is $352.2 million, tops in the majors, but the money has not stopped the slide.
Who Gets Managed
Manager Carlos Mendoza said, “Just having a hard time playing a complete game right now.” He also said, “I mean you can make a case,” when asked whether the losing streak could be taking a mental toll on the team, adding, “Especially when you’re going through a stretch like this, it’s hard, it’s hard. But nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. You got to keep going. We haven’t been playing good baseball. That’s the bottom line.”
That is the language of the dugout under pressure: keep going, no sympathy, no pause. Polanco’s injury is being folded into a larger collapse that the club’s hierarchy has to manage while the losses pile up. Mendoza said, “When doctors first took a look at him, it looked like he got hit by a pitch when he didn’t,” and added, “In talking to him, it was just a couple of swings that he took that night. ... He didn’t think much of it, but just got worse the following day.”
He said, “So you just got to let it calm down a little bit and then we’ll go from there. But we don’t have a timetable for how long this is going to last.” Mendoza also said Polanco had been dealing with an ankle issue and that, “He was trending in the right direction,” adding, “It’s definitely going to help, obviously now with him being shut down. But the biggest thing now is that we’ve got to take care of that wrist.”
The Cost of the Slide
New York’s 10th straight loss came on a 4-2 defeat to the Chicago Cubs after Brooks Raley surrendered Carson Kelly’s tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning. The Mets are 7-14 and have been outscored 60-18 during the slide. It is the longest losing streak for New York since it dropped 11 in a row in 2004.
Only four teams have reached the postseason after going through a double-digit losing streak, including the Cleveland Guardians last year and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017. That is the reform trap in baseball form: the standings keep moving, the payroll keeps towering, and the club still has to claw out of a hole dug by the same structure that promised control through money and management.
The Mets have also been missing Juan Soto, who has been out since April 3 because of a strained right calf. The team has scored two or fewer runs in 11 of their 21 games, the highest such number for an NL team. The injuries and the scoring drought are landing on the players and the record, while the front office keeps the machinery running.
What the Front Office Moves
Mendoza got a vote of confidence from president of baseball operations David Stearns on Friday. The Mets also recalled catcher Hayden Senger from Triple-A Syracuse before their loss to the Cubs. The 29-year-old Senger is batting .257 with five homers and 11 RBIs in 12 games with Syracuse.
Senger’s arrival gives Mendoza more flexibility with how he uses his top two catchers, Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens. That is the club’s answer to the crisis: shuffle the pieces, call up another body, and keep the roster in motion while the losses keep coming. Polanco’s move to the injured list is just the latest sign of a team where the hierarchy is intact, even as the baseball falls apart around it.