Mets insider shares positive Francisco Lindor update

There’s a certain brand of panic that only Mets fans can manufacture, and it showed up right on cue the moment Francisco Lindor went under the knife. Hamate bone surgery in February? For a hitter? Yeah, that’ll set off alarms. Not small ones either. Air-raid sirens.

But now we’re a couple of weeks removed from the drama, and suddenly the noise has turned into cautious optimism. The kind that doesn’t get headlines but wins seasons.

The temperature around Lindor is cooling fast

The latest update, relayed by insider Max Goodman, didn’t just sound good — it sounded routine. And routine is exactly what the Mets needed to hear.

“Francisco Lindor got his stitches out yesterday, Carlos Mendoza says. Lindor will take 2-3 days to make sure the scar is in a good place before he starts with any “impact activities.” So far, everything with his progression since hamate bone surgery has been good, per Mendoza,” he wrote.

That’s not a team spinning hope. That’s a recovery moving on schedule. Maybe even a hair ahead.

Hamate injuries are sneaky

Here’s the thing Mets fans know but don’t want to admit: the surgery isn’t the scary part. The bat speed afterward is.

Hitters almost always say they feel fine once cleared. Then the games start. Suddenly that inside fastball isn’t getting turned on the same way, and the power takes a few weeks to show back up. It’s common. It’s annoying. It’s real.

Lindor might be ready for Opening Day, sure. That doesn’t mean April Lindor looks like the guy who produced an MVP-caliber season in 2024 or the one who posted that ridiculous 31-31-117 season last year. Expecting that immediately is setting yourself up to yell at your TV by Tax Day.

But here’s the bigger truth — Lindor doesn’t need to be Superman on March 27. He just needs to heal naturally and do his best at the plate and on the field.

Why this matters way more than the stat line

The Mets lineup without Lindor isn’t just weaker. It’s disjointed. He’s the metronome at the top, the tone-setter in the field, the guy whose energy weirdly seems to dictate whether the team looks alive or half asleep.

You can survive a few weeks of reduced slugging. You can’t replace his presence. Not internally, not externally, not with lineup gymnastics or hopeful bench bats.

And the calendar still favors him. A month is a long time in baseball rehab, especially when the player is already progressing through normal checkpoints. Stitches out. Wrap reduced. Baseball activity on deck. That’s the exact script teams want.

So what’s the real outlook?

He’s probably playing Opening Day.

Maybe the power shows up mid-April instead of day one. Maybe he’s slapping doubles and working counts early instead of launching balls into the second deck. That’s fine. Actually, it’s normal.

Because once the strength comes back — and it will — you’re looking at the same Lindor who’s been the heartbeat of this franchise for years now.

And if the worst thing that happens is he starts the season merely good instead of spectacular?

The Mets will take that in a heartbeat.