Positive Pete Alonso injury update and how the team should handle his recovery

The initial outlook for Pete Alonso is pretty good after leaving Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves after getting in his first plate appearance of the game. Maybe the New York Mets don’t have to panic after all about losing the heart of their lineup.

The day-to-day status is about as good as we could’ve hoped for. It could mean no missed games. It could mean a couple. We just have to brace ourselves for some change and lineup cards which’ll have us fuming even more.

As his wrist continues to heel and Alonso can contribute, the Mets need to have him in the starting lineup. He shouldn’t be playing the field. That’s a job for two other players.

The Mets should hand starts at first base to Mark Vientos and Mark Canha as Pete Alonso recovers

Mark Canha was the man who moved from left field to first base when Alonso exited the game Tommy Pham would enter with Daniel Vogelbach remaining at DH. Per MLB rules, a DH cannot change positions so the Mets didn’t really have too many options. As if they’d even let Vogelbach start at first base.

The Mets should handle Alonso carefully and he needs to be honest about how he’s feeling. The team cannot afford for him to aggravate his wrist any further just to try to help them win a few games now. He especially doesn’t need to be diving for groundballs while the team employs other reasonable players at first base. Let Alonso focus on his swing. Give Mark Vientos some extra time in the field while we’re at it.

If the Mets are working with a shortened bench for the next couple of days because Alonso is unavailable occasionally, Vientos needs to start. He has gotten off to a slow start since his promotion and the time is approaching for them to possibly decide between sending him down or DFA’ing Vogelbach.

Alonso has been the closest thing to an ironman for the Mets since his 2019 call-up. He played in all but one of the games his rookie season and I feel like from memory it was a game where Noah Syndergaard beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 and he hit a home run. I could be wrong. Alonso missed three in 2020 and landed on the IL for the first time in 2021. He still appeared in 152 games for the Mets before getting into 160 in 2022.

The Polar Bear has yet to miss a game for the Mets in 2023 but that streak could come to an end. He passed the first test. Let’s see how he feels when he wakes up today.