MIAMI — Starling Marte was finally playing without pain for the first time since 2022. Then, one morning he woke up with knee pain and the cycle started all over again.
The veteran right fielder was so influential for the Mets two years ago and he was among the players who helped spur the team’s turnaround in early June, but a bone bruise on his right knee has sidelined him since June 23. The Mets are hopeful he can return next month, but any timetable is tentative.
“What we don’t want is for me to kind of rush back onto the field and then for that pain to come again and not go away,” Marte said Saturday at Marlins Park through the team translator. “That’s what the doctor says. We want to avoid that.”
A bone bruise might be what landed him on the injured list, but by the time Marte underwent imaging, there was other damage found. While a bone bruise typically comes from some sort of impact, Marte said it was explained to him as an overuse injury. His knee had been destabilized and the cutting, running and changing directions left it vulnerable to injury.
The doctors told Marte his knee could give out at any moment.
“It wasn’t something I was expecting to hear,” he said.
Marte saw doctors again Friday and underwent more imaging, which showed that the bruise on the bone had subsided, though there was still inflammation around the area that the doctors needed to see go down. He recently started light baseball activities like hitting off a tee, but everything is being done indoors. Before he’s able to play again, he’ll need to take fly balls and run outdoors on the grass, and he’ll have to do it pain-free.
Last season, Marte had issues cutting, running and changing directions as he struggled to play after double hernia surgery in October 2022. Stealing bases wasn’t as much of an issue with his hip and groin, but the lateral movement required to make plays in the outfield triggered shooting pains in his hips. It limited his movement and led to poor defense.
The 35-year-old has long been known for his outfield defense and his strong arm. Analytics rate him as one of the worst defensive right fielders in baseball with his -9 OAA ranked 45th in the league, the lowest among all qualified right fielders.
However, some in the organization think he’s been unfairly scapegoated. They feel that critics have cherry-picked plays that make him look lazy or a step behind, failing to take into account some of the stronger plays he has made and routinely makes.
This was the case last year as well, with fans and media alike speculating that he was phoning it in, when the reality was that he was playing injured. Marte ended the season on the injured list, rehabbing his groin with a specialist in Philadelphia.
Still, the Mets believe they are a better team with him. He hit .304 with an .817 OPS, two doubles, a home run, seven RBI and three stolen bases in the 13 games before the injury.
“I felt good to the point where I got hurt,” Marte said. “At that point, the team was turning it around. But at the same time, you’re kind of heartbroken by the situation because you want to be able to go out there to help the team win. When you’re not expecting [it] at all, it’s hard. It’s hard to just be a bystander and a spectator.”
The Mets have to make a decision about Marte, who has one more year on a four-year contract after 2024. If it looks like his rehab could drag out through August and September, they might look to acquire a right fielder at the July 30 trade deadline. Jesse Winker could be an upgrade over DJ Stewart in right field and at DH as a left-handed hitter. Stewart has minor league options.
The Mets could also shift Jeff McNeil to right field, but they might need to see him produce a little more over the next 10 days. He’s trending in the right direction by making hard contact, but entering Saturday, his .622 OPS and 79 OPS+ were still the lowest among all of the Mets’ regulars.
Marte is on the mend, but how quickly he returns could dictate what the Mets do next.
“It’s hard to put a timetable on it right now,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s pain tolerance. He’s progressing well, but still very minimal, low-impact baseball activities. It’s day-to-day and week-to-week. But once he’s pain-free, it should be a quick ramp-up.”
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