He departed the Mets with tears in his eyes because of a severe illness that nearly stole his life.
It may be necessary for the New York Mets to play without their star shortstop if they hope to at least split their current four-game series with the Chicago Cubs.
Francisco Lindor had flu-like symptoms on Wednesday night, forcing him to leave the game in the third inning, manager Carlos Mendoza told SNY team reporter Steve Gelbs.
Although it’s encouraging that Lindor’s illness—rather than an injury—caused him to leave, his availability and health may become uncertain in the coming days.
Since he has only missed three games in his last two seasons with the Mets, Lindor’s career absences from games are extremely rare. Nevertheless, an oblique injury kept the 29-year-old Gold Glover and four-time All-Star out of the field for 37 games during his rookie campaign in Queens.
In order to cover for Lindor until he was ready to return, the Mets acquired his close buddy and fellow Puerto Rican, Javier Baez, from the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline. Naturally, this trade was notorious because interim general manager Zack Scott traded top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, a center fielder, for 47 games of Baez, a rental.
While Lindor has had a difficult start to the 2024 regular season, he has a history of having a poor start to every season in his career. Lindor has only slashed.195/.278/.356 in 30 games (118 at-bats), with a.634 OPS, five home runs, and eleven RBIs. Because of this, the Mets’ offense has been patchy, with Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo both having trouble at the plate.
Positively, in his last 15 games, Lindor has hit.268/.328/.536 with a.864 OPS, four home runs, and nine RBIs.
Although Lindor’s substitute on Wednesday, Joey Wendle, also suffered from the same ailment over the weekend, the Mets are praying that his illness does not worsen beyond today.
