PORT STA LUCY — The Mets took another hit in their starting lineup, with Jeff McNeal down at a tense diagonal, Carlos Mendoza said Thursday.
The manager said McNeill will be closed for 7-10 days, adding that he believes he will miss out on 3-4 weeks.
“It could take more time,” Mendoza said at Clover Park. “He has to be free of symptoms and then we ramp up him.”
Without McNeill, the Mets would have vacancies on 2 bases, and Brett Batty started on Thursday, adjusting to position.
He will likely get the second most rep for the rest of his spring training, but Louis Sangel Acuna, Donovan Walton and Louis de los Santos (who were all in the role of utility) will also have the opportunity.
The Mets reclaimed Brandon Nemo in the DH lineup after being sidelined with the right knee of Sean Manaea, who resumed the throwing program after an MRI showed that the oblique injury had been cleaned up.
Still, McNeill's loss comes after the Mets saw a potential season-ending shoulder injury to potential utility player Nick Madrigal and then saw Hamate's bones fractured to Francisco Alvarez and Frankie Montas dealing with high-grade rat strains.
“You don't like seeing it,” Mendoza said of the injury. “You have to keep going. At the beginning of camp, we continue to talk about depth and are being tested here. We know that we have a good team at our depth as well as our regulars. We still feel good about it. Unfortunately, there were some. [injuries]. That's part of it. it's okay. ”
