Mets to Review Injury Protocols with Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr., More Players on IL

Injuries to Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr., Jorge Polanco and other players are partially to blame for the New York Mets' underperformance this season, and president of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday the front office will examine how it evaluates injury risk when making acquisitions.

"I think we absolutely have to look at our risk assessment on injured players or players who get injured once they're here," Stearns said, per ESPN's Jorge Castillo. "Certainly, we know we're taking a level of risk when we bring players in with injury histories. We're feeling that risk right now and it hasn't helped that a number of our players have gotten hurt at the exact same time."

While Soto is back after missing more than two weeks with a calf strain, Lindor is on the injured list with his own calf injury. Polanco (wrist, Achilles) and Robert (back) are also sidelined.

The acquisitions of Polanco and Robert came with inherent risk.

After all, Polanco went to the injured list six times from 2022 to 2024, while Robert went on the list eight times over the last five seasons. The front office felt the risk was worth the reward, but the Mets have been scrambling to replace so many important position players.

Lindor's immediate replacement at shortstop was Ronny Mauricio, but he suffered a fractured left thumb and is also out. That forced New York to move Bo Bichette from third base to shortstop, where he previously played for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Nobody in Major League Baseball has a worse record than the Mets' 15-25 mark, which has left them in last place in the National League East.

They are already 12.5 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves and face a daunting climb to get back into the playoff picture even though there are still plenty of games remaining.

The record would be bad enough on its own for any team, but the Mets entered the 2026 campaign with championship expectations with Soto, Bichette and Lindor leading the lineup and Freddy Peralta anchoring the pitching staff.

The second-highest payroll in the league did nothing to quell those expectations, but the injuries and poor play have proven too much to overcome in the early going.

And they may lead to the front office overhauling how it approaches things in the future.