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The Mets will be stripped down at the trade deadline, leaving a lesser version of the roster on pace for the franchises first last-place finish in 23 years.
By September, they will be months removed from meaningful baseball, playing out the string in one of the most disappointing seasons in team history.
But Juan Soto is refusing to throw in the towel on his second season in Queens, declaring Monday that he 100 percent plans to play again this year after landing on the injured list with his second calf strain since April.
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I feel Im young enough to recover quickly, the 27-year-old superstar said before Mondays game against the Braves.
We dont know how Im gonna feel tomorrow, the next day, so were just taking it day by day right now ..
Im hurt right now, but Im hoping to be back soon and help as much as I can.
Its tough.
Its been a tough season, a lot of ups and downs.
Its been a lot of frustration.
Its tough in this situation at this moment.
We never expected to be in this kind of spot now.
Soto most recently appeared in Fridays loss to the Dodgers, when he aggravated the injury while running the bases.
An MRI exam revealed that the outfielder suffered a Grade 2 strain, which is more significant than the injury he suffered in the spring and kept him out for nearly three weeks.
Soto felt discomfort in his calf the week before suffering his most recent injury, resulting in him missing one game against Milwaukee and serving as a DH in his two most recent appearances, but the owner of the largest contract in MLB history had no regrets about playing through the pain.
I dont, Soto said.
Im trying to go out there and help my team to win ballgames.
Whatever it takes.
Sometimes its tough.
We were hoping it would go the other way, and I [would get] better and healthier and keep going, but it didnt.
We were expecting something [from the MRI] because I was going through it a lot.
I was in a lot of pain, but I [kept] pushing.
Prior to this season, Soto hadnt been on the injured list since 2021, missing a total of just 16 games in the previous four seasons.
But even as last years third-place finisher in the NL MVP voting has put together another stellar campaign leading the Mets with 21 home runs and 52 RBIs, while posting the best on-base percentage in the NL (.404) and MLBs third-best OPS (.947) Soto has also battled hand and elbow issues, in addition to the calf injuries.
Still, interim manager Andy Green supports Sotos plan to return at the tail end of a lost season, a move that could carry enormous risk and minimal reward for a franchise player with 13-plus years remaining on his contract.
We want to get to the other side of the injury risk and get him completely healthy before we even engage in that conversation, Green said.
We think the timelines line up that theres enough of a season left that its worthwhile to get one of our best players on the field and go win baseball games.
The fans who show up deserve to see the best that we have available and hes the best that anyone has available.
Once he gets to that spot, its about the pride in New York and the pride in your team and going out to win the baseball games that you have to play.
If hes healthy, thats the right decision for him and for us.
Obviously well do everything humanly possible not to put him in a bad spot ..
but its his burning passion to be on the baseball field playing baseball and that passion is one of the things that makes him really good at what he does.
You would expect that passion to push him to get back in September at some point in time, who knows if sooner.