The Mets had not announced the results of the MRI exam of Francisco Alvarez from Monday, a day after the catcher had sustained an injury to his right thumb while in the second base he die during the victory of Sattle on Sunday, but they know how much they cannot afford to lose him for a longer period.
Unfortunately they had experience with that earlier, a history that Carlos Mendoza noticed on Sunday evening, when he acknowledged that there was “concern” over the thumb.
Alvarez was operated on his left thumb last year after he had tied up when he fell on the bases and his Hamate Bot broke on a swing this spring.
Both injuries have been part of a downward route in the young career of Alvarez, which made him choose to use Triple-A Syracuse in June.
But after compiling an OPS from only .652 to 35 games before being sent to Syracuse, Alvarez returned a month later with a flowering.
After Sunday’s three-hit match, Alvarez had an OPS of 1,054 with 11 extra basehits in 21 games since they were recalled.
And he had been hotter lately and went behind the record with six extra basehits in his last five start.
“Whatever he did in the minors – or what they did with him – worked,” said a scout from the National League Monday. “But something like that could throw him away for the rest of the year. We saw it with him earlier. It can take him for a while to get back to work.”
Without Alvarez, the Mets would have to turn to Luis Torrens again, a capable backup, but of the 36 catchers with at least 220 record performances this season only have two one lower than Torrens’ .581.
The Mets can probably no longer afford briefs, given their place in the rankings.
They came in second place in the NL East on Monday and third in the Wildcard classification and started on Tuesday with a three-game series against last place in Washington, followed by three in Atlanta in fourth place.
Then they have to organize the first place Phillies and third place Marlins for travel to Detroit in front, as well as Cincinnati and Philadelphia.
Francisco Lindor was named NL Player of the Week on Monday.
The shortstop had become hitless in five consecutive games, part of a 0-out-21 skid, before he broke out against the Braves on August 12.
And during his last five games, Lindor did nothing but hit.
He has had five consecutive multi-hit competitions, 13-from-21 with three Doubles, three gay people, seven RBIs, two free runs and a few stolen bases.
The Mets lost three of those five games, but mostly Lindor’s success reflects on the album that of the team.
In victories this season he has a OPS of .991 compared to .535 in losses.
The Mets announced on Monday that they asked for exemptions to grant Paul Blackburn his unconditional release.
Blackburn was designated for allocation to open a selection place for Nolan McLean.
Blackburn was taken over from the As a year ago and was sidelined by the right knee inflammation and did not make his season until 2 June.
He had an ERA of 6.85 in seven games, four starts.
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