Mets injury scare for Francisco Lindor is enough to rethink his usage

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like the injury scare to New York Mets shortstop and MVP candidate Francisco Lindor is anything worth losing sleep over.

If it wasn’t for eviscerating the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, Lindor might have tried to fight through it. Instead, the star shortstop exited early as a precaution due to some back tightness while overrunning second base.

The Mets have come to rely on Lindor more than ever these days. Despite how present they’ve been in the win column, scoring 11 runs has been a rarity in a single game. That’s usually a total they’ve reserved for an entire series. Most of the runs are coming in a single inning.

The brief injury scare should have the Mets in caution mode. Lindor is the straw that stirs the drink. Without him, you have a cup of coffee with a whole bunch of creamer, sugar, and if you’re too young to know any better while having your first brew at 13, marshmallows, hanging around on top unmixed. To put it another way, it’s not a good situation.

The Mets need to find every opportunity they can to give Francisco Lindor any rest he may need

Lindor has played every Mets game this season. He leads the league in plate appearances and at-bats. He has started all but one of those games for a total of 1284.2 innings on defense. The team has had 1311.2 total innings on defense. Only 27 innings have been played all year without him at shortstop.

This isn’t anything new for Lindor who only had one start last year as the DH. None have been available for him this season. The presence of J.D. Martinez means resting one of the team’s key hitters in order to do this. The Mets seem to prefer having Jesse Winker in as the DH alternative anyway whenever possible.

Before exiting Friday’s game early, the last time he didn’t play a complete game was back on August 11 when the Mets lost 12-1 to the Seattle Mariners. He didn’t leave until the 9th.

It’s not easy convincing a player like him to sit in the tail end of a season with the playoffs on the line. Try this on Lindor who never wants to take a break from the action. A tightening back is a wake-up call for everyone in their 30s. Let’s just hope he didn’t hear anything snap.

So what’s the solution? The Mets should have at least one planned day coming up where Lindor gets a half-day. Let him be the DH in a game against the Washington Nationals to get his swings in but not worry about playing the field. Do it as much as possible if they’re able to wrap up a postseason berth early.

As for Saturday, Lindor will need to wake up feeling like he got hit by a train to remain out of the lineup. Expect him back. That’s what MVPs do.