Francisco Alvarez's injury hits the Mets the hardest so far

Meanwhile, Clay Holmes continues his dominant spring in his transition to the rotation

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

What’s up with the Mets? 🌴

• Francisco Álvarez will miss 6-8 weeks with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand (Story)

• The Mets beat the Nationals 7-6 in Port Saint Lucie on Saturday (box)

• Mark Vientos and Jakson Reetz both homered in a six run Mets first inning

• Pete Alonso collected two hits and scored a run

• Clay Holmes continued his excellent spring, firing 3.2 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just one hit and three walks while striking out eight

• Edwin Díaz walked two but struck out three hitters in a row in his scoreless frame

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Stories from Port St. Lucie… 📰

• 2024 first round pick Carson Benge is ready for his first full pro season (Newsday)

• The Mets want their top prospects to complement their stars (MLB.com)

• Juan Soto enlivens the Mets culture (Athletic)

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (6-8) vs Cardinals (8-8)

Where: Clover Park - Port St. Lucie, Florida

Starters: RHP Griffin Canning vs. RHP Sonny Gray

When: 6:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY, MLBN

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Francisco Álvarez’s injury is the most serious one yet for the Mets ✍️

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Earlier this spring, the Mets suffered injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea that certainly put a damper on the club’s rotation plans. Montas is going to be out for the majority of the first half, but Manaea’s injury is not considered serious, and the Mets expect him to return after just a few rotation turns when the regular season starts.

While missing two of the club’s most important starting pitchers for any amount of time is obviously less than ideal, New York did assemble plenty of rotation depth to cover their early season absences. Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning, and potentially even somebody like José Urena can all fill in and give the Mets serviceable starts in the interim.

But the injury news the Mets got on Sunday morning certainly was a more difficult pill to swallow.

Starting catcher Francisco Álvarez struggled offensively for much of last season, but the Mets had not lost any confidence in their young backstop and had been counting on him to deliver a big year in his third full year in the Show.

So when it came out that Álvarez had suffered a broken hamate bone in his hand that is going to sideline him for 6-8 weeks, a huge wrench was thrown in the Mets’ 2025 plans.

Catcher is the one position where the Mets don’t necessarily have legitimate Major League depth, and there is certainly a real possibility the club will need to go outside of the organization prior to opening day.

Luis Torrens, whom the club acquired last May, was incredibly impactful—particularly defensively—as the team’s back-up catcher for the majority of last season.

The Mets, and their fans, feel confident in Torrens’ ability to take the reins on the starting job for now, and while he doesn’t have the offensive ceiling of Álvarez, Torrens can capably be the everyday catcher until he returns.

The issue becomes, who backs him up?

The Mets have minor league veterans Jakson Reetz, Hayden Senger, and Chris Williams in camp, as well as former top prospect Kevin Parada.

Reetz stands out though as the only potentially realistic option to begin the season in the Major Leagues.

The other three backstops have never caught a pitch at the sport’s highest level, while Reetz was at least in the Majors as recently as last season.

The 29-year-old is a lifetime .239 hitter in the minor leagues, and crushed 30 home runs in 104 games just three years ago. If Alvarez is going to be out until early to mid-May, Reetz represents the only legitimate option to serve as the club’s back-up catcher without going outside of the organization.

In his first day auditioning for a suddenly open job, he certainly made a good impression, clubbing a first inning grand slam on Sunday.

But I will say, the first thing that came to mind early yesterday morning when I saw the Alvarez news was pursuing a reunion with veteran Tomás Nido.

NY Post

Nido is currently in camp with the Tigers but not projected to make their opening day roster. We all know what he is—and isn’t offensively—but the 30-year-old is above average defensively and has experience catching several of the Mets’ most important pitchers.

If that avenue was pursued, the Mets would have no qualms sliding Nido into the back-up catcher role and letting him handle starting once or twice a week for the season’s first month or so.

The cost to acquire him would not be high, and one would have to assume the team’s front office has at least discussed the possibility.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Yankees received worst case scenario news, as ace right Gerrit Cole has been recommended to undergo Tommy John Surgery (Athletic)

• Ex Met Javier Baez hit a three run home run in the Tigers 5-3 win over Pittsburgh

• Yordan Alvarez connected on his first spring training homer in the Astros 10-6 loss to the Marlins

• Jazz Chisholm Jr. had two hits including a homer in the Yankees 6-5 loss to St. Louis

• Royals top prospect Jac Caglianone blasted a homer in KC’s 5-2 victory over Milwaukee

• The Diamondbacks pounded out 16 hits in a 14-1 drubbing over the Rangers