The Mets do not need any more bad news. They just got some anyway.
Marcus Semien has been diagnosed with a Grade 3 hip flexor strain and will miss at least 4 to 6 weeks, according to New York Post reporter Jon Heyman. The 35-year-old second baseman played through the injury for weeks, including both games of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs last week, before it became bad enough to sideline him.
Grade 3 is the most severe classification for a muscle strain. It usually means a partial or complete tear, and recovery timelines can extend well past six weeks depending on how the healing process goes. For reference, Mets outfielder Tyrone Taylor had a Grade 1.5 to 2 hip flexor strain earlier this year and missed 28 days.
The math suggests Semien is unlikely to return until early August at the earliest, which puts him right around the trade deadline and just before the All-Star break window closes for good.
His performance this season has been part of a broader Mets problem. Semien has hit .214 with 9 home runs, 29 RBIs and 6 stolen bases in 80 games. Those numbers are well below his career norms and well below what the Mets thought they were getting when they traded fan favorite Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers to acquire him last November.
The Rangers, for what it is worth, are winning that trade in a landslide so far. Nimmo has been productive at the plate and in the field. Texas is a competitive team. New York is a team in freefall.
Semien’s decline began in his last season in Texas, and the trend has continued. He is 35, and second basemen do not typically age gracefully at the plate. His bat speed has slowed. His pitch recognition, which was elite in his prime, has been compromised. The infamously bad ABS challenge he had earlier this year was a small snapshot of a larger problem with how he is seeing the ball.
The Mets now have to figure out how to fill his spot for at least a month. The internal options are limited. Jeff McNeil can slide over from the outfield. Luisangel Acuna, who has been up and down between the majors and Triple-A, could get more consistent reps. Neither is a real solution for a team that entered the year with playoff expectations.
The bigger question is whether the Mets go into buy mode at the deadline or start selling pieces. At 9-of-10 losses recently, the vibes suggest sell mode. But they are not far enough out of the wild card race to make that decision easy, and Steve Cohen has been consistent about his desire to keep spending his way into contention.
Losing Semien for 4-6 weeks puts more pressure on Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo’s replacement Jesse Winker, and the rest of the veterans to carry the roster. The bullpen has been leaky. The rotation has been inconsistent. And now the defense at second base is compromised.
The Mets will call this a short-term issue. In reality, it is another piece of a season that keeps unraveling. Semien, at his age and with this injury, may not be the same when he returns. The Mets have to hope he is.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
