Starling Marte's right knee 'flared up again,' Mets' DH to undergo testing

Just as the Mets appeared close to getting one DH back to full health, another one appears to have sustained an injury.

Starling Marte‘s right knee “flared up again” during his last at-bat of Sunday’s loss to the Yankees and he is undergoing testing to determine the severity of the injury, manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. The skipper added that this is the “same knee that he had issues with last year, spring training.”

When asked about his level of concern, Mendoza exhaled and said, “I gotta wait.”

“I was just talking to him and he was like, ‘Obviously, I felt it,'” Mendoza said. “But I gotta wait and see what the doctor says, or the trainers.”

SNY’s Andy Martino reported that a source said the Mets don’t expect to have anything on the injury Sunday night and might not have any information on Monday, either, as the testing gets done.

“It doesn’t sound like a quick resolution with Marte, don’t want to speculate beyond that. But that’s the deal, there’s gonna be some tests and we’re not gonna know for a little while,” Martino said.

With Monday’s day off, the Mets have time. And Tuesday, which Martino indicated could be when the club knows more, could be when a move is made as they are primed to activate Jesse Winker from the IL.

Mendoza said earlier in the day that Winker, who then went on to hit a long home run in Sunday’s game for Triple-A Syracuse, had a chance to be added to the 26-man roster for Tuesday’s series opener in Baltimore against the Orioles.

Winker has missed around two months of action with a right oblique strain. He had eight extra-base hits (one home run) with 10 RBI in 78 plate appearances over 24 games with a .239/.321/.418 slash line for a .739 OPS (112 OPS+) before landing on the IL.

The injury to Marte appeared to happen when he took a 1-1 offering from Yankees closer Devin Williams for a ball. After Marte took the pitch above the zone, he grabbed at his left knee and called for time. As the Mets coaching staff and training staff came out, they looked at his right knee, which he began flexing. The veteran remained in the game, swung through a change-up and fouled one off, before grounding out to third.

Marte, who finished 3-for-5 on the day, was only able to jog out of the box and slowly made his way down to first in obvious discomfort and disappointment.

The 36-year-old was making just his fifth start in the outfield on the season and had a busy day out in left field, in addition to running the bases (including grabbing a steal) after three of his five trips to the plate. The veteran made 80 starts in the outfield last season and 82 in 2023.

Marte has 11 extra-base hits (four home runs) and 20 RBI in 58 games and is slashing .270/.353/.387 for a .740 OPS.