Mets' Luis Guillorme ready to start rehab assignment
The Mets' Luis Guillorme walks through the dugout after he scored against the Phillies during the fourth inning of an MLB game at Citi Field on Aug. 14. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
If there were any outstanding questions about Luis Guillorme’s importance to the Mets, consider the past three weeks — when he has been out with a strained left groin — and what his absence has meant for the rest of the roster.
Francisco Lindor has played all but three innings at shortstop, without even a realistic possibility of a half-day off as the designated hitter. Jeff McNeil, among the Mets’ favorite targets for an extra occasional day off, has played every inning of every game at second base. Third has been in flux, with Eduardo Escobar, who had lost most of his playing time to Guillorme, now the everyday option there again. And Guillorme’s replacements have been a rotating cast of journeyman utility infielders — and, for one game, nobody at all.
So how much have the Mets missed Guillorme, his versatility and his solid .283/.355/.357 slash line?
“A lot,” manager Buck Showalter said. “I could do a lot more if I had him.”
That flexibility may soon be back. Guillorme is scheduled to start a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday, according to Showalter. He appears poised to return around the start of the Mets’ next homestand, Sept. 12, which would be four weeks after he got hurt (and the front end of the team-provided timeline of four to six weeks).
Guillorme’s latest progress includes running the bases and hitting “a little here and there,” he said.
“We’re pretty much as close as I’m going to get, honestly,” he said. “I’m not saying I could’ve played at 100%, but me personally, a week ago I could’ve come off the bench. But there’s no point in doing any of that. I’m as close to 100% as I’m going to get.”
As always, though, the game-speed action in the minors will provide another test.
“Everything we’ve done, I felt really good,” Guillorme said. “Once I go on rehab, it’s more a matter of the way I recover after games than how it feels (on the field). Because I’ve been pretty good, everything’s felt great. I think it’s just little movements. The last thing we gotta check off the box on is random side-to-side (movement), just changing-direction stuff. At the end of the day, that’s how (the injury) happened, running.”
Guillorme originally was slated to begin playing in minor-league games on Sunday. But because of the logistics that would have been involved — going to Binghamton for one game, waiting out the minors-wide Monday off day somewhere, then joining Syracuse — the parties decided to just wait till Tuesday.
“It’s the same thing,” he said. “It’s not because anything is wrong, it just makes more sense.”
The Mets’ latest utility infielder is Deven Marrero, who was called up for a second stint with the major-league team on Thursday. He doesn’t hit much but plays all over, including first base, Showalter went out of his way to note. That could come in handy for days like Saturday, when the Mets had Darin Ruf at first (and Pete Alonso at DH) and would need another option there in the event Ruf had to come out of the game. Otherwise, the Mets would lose their DH.
Marrero, who began the year with the independent Long Island Ducks, has played parts of seven seasons in the majors. He said Saturday a certain falsehood, circulated on the internet and by game broadcasts, has followed him throughout: That his uncle is former big-leaguer Eli Marrero (whose 10-season career ended with the 2006 Mets). They are not related, Deven Marrero said.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
