The New York Mets Jose Martinez is set to miss the first four months of the season due to a torn meniscus. Mets manager Luis Rojas told reporters in a press conference on Monday.
“That was definitely surprising,” Rojas said, solemn and down about Martinez’s injury. “I expected it to be something that will take time to have him back on the field, but not as long as four months.”
Martinez struggled to even put weight onto his left leg and was helped into the visitor’s dugout because the home team (Mets) dugout was much too far. Once there, he was carted to the trainer’s room and met with the diagnosis of a torn meniscus.
The 32-year-old First Baseman suffered the injury in a collision with the umpire that occurred when Martinez was playing first base in Sunday’s game. He is expected to undergo surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee this weekend.
In January, Jose Martinez signed a split contract with the Mets that would have been worth $1 million if he had made the Opening Day roster.
Martinez for his career has had a .289 batting average with a .803 career OPS and was brought in to add some depth and hitting to the Mets lineup.
The unfortunate injury takes Martinez out of the competition for a bench role in which he could play multiple positions for the Mets and add a power-bat to their lineup.
As for how the Mets will move forward after the injury, Manager Louis Rojas said, “We have a lot of depth,” Rojas said. “We still have a lot of depth in camp with guys that are not on the roster that we’re evaluating for maybe a similar situation that Jose Martinez was brought to the team.”
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