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“Josh is a versatile, quality ballplayer,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “(He) gives us the ability to have him play multiple infield positions, whether it’s on a regular basis at second, whether it’s playing some third base or even occasionally the corner outfield. We feel it gives (manager) Tony (La Russa) and the coaches more options to help get us through this season and into October.

The main barrier for Williams is the gradual rebuilding of strength and flexibility in his wrist after surgery in late October. Donovan said team doctors are targeting “a specific point in a specific date in March” for Williams to return. Although he didn’t specify the date, Donovan said the goal is around the five-month mark from Williams’ injury, which would be the last week of March.

Several prominent Mets, like Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Max Scherzer, took the vaccine in 2021. But the Mets were also one of the least-vaccinated teams in baseball last year, never hitting the 85% threshold to loosen COVID protocols. Multiple Mets leaned on “personal choice” rhetoric when asked directly about the vaccine last year, including JD Davis, James McCann and now-free agent Michael Conforto.

“I have done this too long to assume that anything gets across the finish line, so you try to keep a lot of balls in the air, and some of those may be, as you guys would deem, significant. Some may not be,” Hoyer said. “Certainly I never assume anything is going to get done until it’s actually done. The nature of this business is that the miss rate is a lot higher than the hit rate by virtue of being in a competitive bidding environment.”