The Mets’ Jorge Polanco return just got a lot less simple

The NY Mets have another Jorge Polanco issue on their hands, and this one matters because it hit during a rehab assignment.

Polanco was scratched from the Syracuse lineup because of ankle soreness and is heading back to New York for evaluation, which is not the kind of update the Mets wanted while they were trying to map out his return.

That does not mean the rehab assignment is dead. It does mean the Mets have to stop treating his return like a clean countdown.

This is about more than one scratched game

The cleanest way to read this is simple: Polanco was already trying to prove he could come back and help the Mets while still managing lower-body discomfort, and now the team has another flare-up to sort through.

That fits the bigger Polanco story in 2026. He has been working back from a left Achilles issue, and the Mets had finally started talking about him as a possible near-term answer again. I wrote earlier this week that the Mets may finally get one missing bat back this weekend, but this scratch changes the shape of that conversation fast.

The Mets have been careful about how they describe him because they know the value is not availability by itself. It is whether he can actually hold up once he is back. That is the cleaner read here, and it matters more than a one-day scratch on its own.

The other part of this is roster math. The Mets need a switch-hitter who can help stabilize the infield and the middle of the order, but they cannot force that timeline if the ankle is barking again.

The Mets need a real answer, not a rushed return

This is where the evaluation back in New York becomes the important part. A scratch on a rehab assignment can be minor. A scratch on a rehab assignment for a player already dealing with Achilles issues is something the Mets have to take seriously.

The Syracuse roster still lists Polanco on a rehab assignment, which tells you the assignment itself has been the working plan all along, even if the latest setback interrupts it. That is why the current note is not about panic. It is about whether the Mets can get a version of Polanco that is actually usable.

If Polanco needs more time, then he needs more time. The Mets do not get anything by pretending a sore ankle is a small thing when the whole point of this rehab was to avoid exactly that kind of problem.

That is the part that should concern them most. Not the scratch itself. The possibility that the body is still telling them the same story.