Jorge Polanco's first year in Queens was supposed to be a bounce-back story. Instead it's ending with a scalpel. MLB Trade Rumors broke the news that Polanco is set to undergo season-ending surgery, putting a hard stop on a campaign that never really got off the ground.
The Mets signed Polanco to a 2-year, $40 million deal this past offseason, banking on him to stabilize the infield after a strong 2025 with the Mariners. Instead, he was limited to just 37 games this season, battling injuries that ranged from his wrist to a recurring left ankle bursitis that eventually forced him to the injured list for good.
Mets manager Andy Green had been signaling for a while that this was coming, saying Polanco "just can't get freedom from the pain" and that surgery was likely in the near term. Now it's official, and the club has to move forward the rest of the way without one of its marquee offseason additions.
For fantasy managers, it's an easy drop — there's no return timeline to hold out for down the stretch. For the Mets, it's another gut punch in a season that's already had plenty of them, and it raises real questions about whether the ankle issue lingers into 2026, the final year of Polanco's deal.