May 5: The Mets placed Winker on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain. Brett Baty was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to take his spot on the active roster.
May 4: Jesse Winker was removed during the fourth inning of today’s 6-5 Mets loss to the Cardinals when Winker hurt his right side after a making a throw from left field. Attempting to throw out Brendan Donovan at home during a third-inning sacrifice fly, Winker told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) postgame that he “felt it pretty much right when I threw the ball.” Winker finished the rest of the inning, but was replaced before the Mets’ next turn in the field.
An MRI revealed oblique damage, and Winker will head back to New York for more testing on Monday. An official placement for Winker on the 10-day injured list is sure to follow before the Mets take the field tomorrow in Phoenix to start a series against the Diamondbacks. Oblique injuries have an uncertain timeline even if a player is dealing with a minor strain, and a more severe strain could put Winker out for months or even put his season in jeopardy.
Sunday marked Winker’s first start of the season in the outfield, and only his second non-DH appearance in 24 total appearances in 2025. Because the Mets were playing a doubleheader against the Cardinals, the team had to stretch the roster a bit more than usual, leading to Winker’s start in left field in the first game, and Starling Marte’s first appearance in the outfield all season when he was the starting right fielder for the second game.
Getting hurt during that rare outfield outing just adds to the misfortune of Winker’s situation, and his absence will remove a key left-handed bat from New York’s roster. Winker and Marte have covered the designated hitter at-bats in a lefty/right platoon, so as DiComo notes, the Mets might be able to fill Winker’s spot by cycling multiple players through the DH spot. Such left-handed hitting options as Jared Young, Jon Singleton, Donovan Walton, or Billy McKinney are at Triple-A as potential call-ups — Young is the only member of that group who is on the 40-man roster, but the Mets could open up another 40-man spot by moving Jose Siri to the 60-day IL.
Winker is off to an okay but unspectacular start in 2025, producing a 104 wRC+ from a .239/.321/.418 slash line over 78 plate appearances. Initially acquired as a trade deadline rental from the Nationals last July, Winker hit decently well during the rest of the regular season and then had a monstrous 1.168 OPS over 32 PA during the Mets’ playoff run. The Mets liked what they saw from the veteran and brought him back to Queens on a one-year, $7.5MM free agent deal.
Ob-bla-dique, Ob-bla-da
IL stint, brah…
La-la how the life goes on …
How about putting Acuna there and calling it a day.
He’s a great fielder and he’s killing it at second base. Why is Acuna replacing Winker at LH DH?
@ Mondesi’s How about not? For one thing, Acuna is already playing pretty regularly, so handing him the DH gig doesn’t really add much to the team or him. It also makes no sense to take a very good defender like Acuna out of the field and move him to DH. And Acuna is a righty with a .672 OPS vs. RH pitching, so not a good replacement for a LH bat who plays against RHers. .
How about playing Baty in place of Winker, but playing him at 3B and moving Vientos to DH on those days That way we get that lefty bat into the lineup, but still improve the defense in the field.
Excellent idea! Baty fields well at 3rd.
Gilbert’s hitting. He’s 24. He’s a lefty. He plays OF. Throw him in there
If you’re seeing the ball well it doesn’t matter how many AAA at bats you’ve had
I would love to see Gilbert come up. I think it is a better solution than turning to the market at the moment.
Gilbert is not ready. The Wilpons are not running the team anymore. Forget about Drew.
He’s 24. He’s ready to go. Right now hes hitting. He hit a HR Saturday. AAA numbers look good
It’s all about are you seeing the ball or not. Are you locked in
You just roll with whoever has the hot bat going
Jared Young is tearing it up in Syracuse and can play all 4 corners.
“Such left-handed hitting options as Jared Young, Jon Singleton, Donovan Walton, or Billy McKinney”
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It’s not a thrilling collection, but it’s not awful. At least Singleton learned to hit in MLB at age 32 and at 33 is now rocking AAA pitching for Syracuse, so I suppose it could be worse. He’s even been tolerable against RHP in MLB so he just might be “It” if the Mets can’t come up with a more reliable hitter or a prospect whose time has come, given the low ceilings of the abovenamed four. Jared Young’s a decent comp for Singleton and can also play an OF corner with a solid arm, afaict
Donovan Walton has a .460 OPS career against RHP, and McKinney’s never a guy you want to trust with regular PA, never mind as the long side of a DH platoon. .
Interesting that Baty didn’t get a mention. If the Mets aren’t bringing him back up even now, to DH against RHP given how he was beginning to roll when he was sent down, they must be really low on him despite the .727 OPS in MLB since April 5th and his positive 0.3 bWAR in 58 PA, pro rating to a very respectable player in a full season. Too bad he duplicates Acuna but without the fire, speed, success, and ability to play the OF including center.
Baty had not played in five days due to a big toe injury. And now, in spite of that, he’s gotten the call.
Brett Baty it is
only a cat has more lives than Brett…
Baty has an injured big toe, Mendoza mentioned at yesterday’s press conference
@Bill
Supposedly not serious enough to call on someone else. Will be interesting to see how injured he really is, the Wilpon ran Mets made stupid decisions. I don’t see Cohen’s Mets making a boo boo that bad. He must be ok, we’ll see.
It had been serious enough for him to not play at all for five days. Not even one end of a 7-inning DH game.
I just cut Baty from my fantasy team last week. He’ll probably hit .300 from here on out.
And when he does, we will thank you for cutting him.
Flipped his hair too vigorously.
Mr. Polishuk: how do you describe Winker as off to “an ok but unspectacular start”? In what world is .239 as a DH ok?
Batting average is not the yardstick for anything anymore. In fact, its almost an afterthought. The more comprehensive stats have taken center stage. And Winker’s .738 OPS and 111 OPS+ certainly qualify as OK but unspectacular. And while you would ideally want more out of your DH, the reality is that the days of every team having a power-hitting DH who is one of the best hitters on the team are also fading. The teams that have one are at an advantage over the rest of the pack. Most teams are just trying to cobble together something that is at least better than league average. And right now, Winker’s numbers are just that.