Jul 30, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to the media about the MLB trade deadline before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Brad Penner-Imagn Images

David Stearns provides disappointing update on injured Mets slugger

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Jun 13, 2025 7:00 PM ET

At the beginning of May, New York Mets veteran Jesse Winker was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a right oblique strain that he suffered during a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

While Winker had spent most of the season as a platoon DH alongside Starling Marte (Winker would typically get the start against right-handed pitchers) and had produced a .739 OPS in 67 at-bats, losing him was still a tough blow, if only because it posed matchup problems.

Jesse Winker does some work as he continues to recover from his oblique injury pic.twitter.com/lOKB8IzARQ
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 26, 2025

Oblique injuries are notorious for being extremely tricky to recover from, as they present a high risk of re-injury. And while there's no indication that Winker has re-injured his oblique, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns didn't provide the most positive message when addressing Winker's injury during a June 13 press conference.

"So Wink continues to progress through his movement screens, his hitting progressions. I think we're still multiple weeks away from a rehab assignment there, on Wink," Stearns said, per an X post from SNY.

David Stearns says that Jesse Winker is still "multiple weeks" away from a rehab assignment.

Stearns also says that Jose Siri had a setback and is being backed off baseball activities for now and will be re-imaged in a couple of weeks. pic.twitter.com/kvnAzilOFd
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 13, 2025

This update on Winker could be much worse, which is clear by the fact that outfielder Jose Siri (who Stearns spoke about right after addressing Winker's status) has suffered a setback and will be missing an even longer amount of time after fracturing his tibia earlier this year.

Still, many Mets fans were hoping that Winker would be coming back to the team sooner rather than later. And this update from Stearns suggests that the 31-year-old might not be back on the field until after the MLB All-Star break.

This article first appeared on New York Mets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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