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The Mets provided an update today on Dominic Smith, who recently went on the IL due to a stress reaction in his left foot. The team revealed that the first baseman/left fielder has been placed in a boot to treat the injury, which he will be in for the next three weeks. At that time, the team will re-evalute him and determine whether he is ready to return to game action.
The news likely means that Smith—who has broken out this year with 10 homers and a 128 wRC+ in 196 plate appearances—will be out of the Mets’ lineup until September. If he is able to return to game action after these three weeks, a brief minor league rehab would likely precede his return to the major leagues.
Given that the Mets decided against selling at the trade deadline, the team now turns its hopes to an improbable but not altogether impossible postseason run. The team will need a lot of variables to go their way if they want to leap-frog over the five teams ahead of them in the wild card race, and they will need every hand on deck if they want to do that. Assuming Smith could maintain the production that he has provided up to this point this season, his return would help towards that goal.