Sports

Francisco Alvarez and Other Damaging Mets' Injuries Scramble Fantasy Baseball Brains

The New York Mets are stuck with one big injury bug. Their latest bad luck is Francisco Alvarez's torn meniscus. He has now been listed out for 6-8 weeks, add to the injuries of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. What does this all mean for fantasy baseball? The answer is: a lot.

Fantasy Baseball Impact

The injury to Alvarez now elevates Luis Torrens to the everyday starter. Torrens is batting .216 with a .567 OPS. In 2025, Torrens hit .226 with a .629 OPS. He is an elite catcher fielding-wise, but lacks much for fantasy baseball relevancy with his bat. Alvarez's best replacements lie with the catcher options below:

  • Ryan Jeffers: He bats .299 on the season with a .948 OPS and 6 home runs, while being owned in about 50% of leagues.
  • Dillon Dingler: He offers great contact on paper with a 3.6% home run rate (7 total) and a .774 OPS. Dingler is 52% available.

The Mets also had to hold their breath as Juan Soto left Wednesday's game in the 7th inning due to a foul ball off his right ankle. Soto's MRI results came back negative, so that he will be day-to-day. Soto could return as soon as Thursday night, but if so, he will play DH.

Luis Robert Jr. has been added to the Mets' injury list, being replaced by AJ Ewing. Click here for that analysis.

Francisco Lindor remains out for one more month, being supplemented by Bo Bichette and Brett Baty.

Nonetheless, the Mets are actually 7-4 in their last 11 games. The 17-25 team still has a very long way to go. Success is success, no matter how it is quantified. The Mets are still just +290 to make the playoffs.

Buy Or Sell: Mets Players

Alvarez is a player to hold until he returns. Being injured on a bad team, his value is very low, yet his ceiling is tremendous with star power in his bat.

Soto is untouchable, of course, and Lindor also remains with low value due to poor pre-injury results. At his best, Lindor is an MVP candidate, although unlikely to be seen in 2026 given time spent sidelined.

Robert Jr. has zero value whatsoever, so we can hope your team picked up AJ Ewing. If not, go pick him up on the waiver wire, if still available. Ewing has a 1.156 OPS through 2 games.

More Fantasy Sports On SI News:



This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/fantasy as Francisco Alvarez and Other Damaging Mets' Injuries Scramble Fantasy Baseball Brains.

Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 8:50 AM.

Get one year of unlimited digital access for $159.99
#ReadLocal

Only 44¢ per day

SUBSCRIBE NOW