PORT ST. LUCIE — The Mets took another hit to their starting lineup, with Jeff McNeil going down with a strained oblique, Carlos Mendoza said Thursday.
The manager said McNeil would be shut down for 7-10 days and added the belief is he’ll miss 3-4 weeks, which would extend into the regular season.
“It could take more than that,’’ Mendoza said at Clover Park. “He has to be symptom-free and then we’ll ramp him up.”
Without McNeil, the Mets have a vacancy at second base and Brett Baty got the start there Thursday as he adjusts to the position.
He’ll likely get more reps at second through the rest of spring training, but Luisangel Acuna, Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos — who were all in competition for a utility role — will also get opportunities.
The Mets did get Brandon Nimmo back in the lineup at DH after he’d been sidelined with a sore right knee and good news on Sean Manaea, who resumed a throwing program after an MRI showed his oblique injury had cleared up.
Still, McNeil’s loss comes after the Mets have already seen a potential season-ending shoulder injury to potential utility player Nick Madrigal, as well as a fractured hamate bone to Francisco Alvarez and Frankie Montas dealing with a high-grade lat strain.
“You hate to see it,’’ Mendoza said of the injuries. “You’ve got to keep going. At the beginning of camp, we kept talking about depth and here we are getting tested. We know we have a good team, not only our regulars, but with our depth. We still feel good about it. Unfortunately we’ve had a few [injuries]. It’s part of it. We’ll be all right.”
