The Mets’ Francisco Lindor update came with the part nobody wanted

Francisco Lindor is getting closer, but the Mets still do not get the answer they want.

That is the annoying part of this update. The Mets finally have Lindor moving toward real baseball work, yet the actual return still sounds like something sitting on the other side of another week.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Lindor is scheduled for a two-inning simulated game on both sides of the ball Friday, but is still at least a week away. That makes Friday less of a finish line and more of another checkpoint.

The simulated game matters, but only so much

A two-inning simulated game is not nothing. It means Lindor is getting his body back into baseball rhythm, which is the part the Mets could not fake while he was limited to controlled work.

Playing both sides of the ball matters too. The Mets do not just need Lindor taking swings in a cage. They need him moving at shortstop, stopping, starting, reacting, throwing, running, and proving the calf can handle more than the sanitized version of a workout.

That was the whole tension earlier this week when Lindor said he could do everything but had not yet run the bases. The final tests were always going to be the ones that asked the calf to behave at game speed.

The Mets still have to survive without him

The timing is what makes this frustrating. The Mets need Lindor now, not in theory. Their offense has spent too many nights looking flat, and Sherman pointed out the team has been near the bottom of the sport in walk rate, which says plenty about the kind of at-bats they have been giving away.

Lindor helps there. He gives the lineup a patient switch-hitter, a real table-setter, and the kind of presence that makes the whole group look less thrown together. He will not fix everything by himself, but he changes the shape of the offense.

That is why the week-away part stings. The Mets have already been waiting for Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. to turn from injury updates into actual lineup help. Every new checkpoint is useful, but every delay makes the current roster feel thinner.

The Mets cannot rush the wrong version back

This is still the part they have to get right. Lindor at 70 percent might sound tempting because the lineup needs him so badly. That does not mean it is smart.

The Mets need the shortstop who can run, defend, create traffic, and keep pressure on pitchers. If the calf limits that version, the name on the lineup card does not solve as much as everyone wants it to.

Friday’s simulated game is a good sign. It is also not the return.

The Mets are closer to Lindor than they were a few days ago. They are still not close enough.