"It's a lot of pain," said Luis Arraez, who played through one for three months last season with the San Diego Padres. "It's not easy."

With Alvarez sidelined, the Mets will have no choice but to turn over their catching duties to veteran Luis Torrens and Senger. Torrens has hit for a 68 OPS+ in 75 games to date; Senger, meanwhile, has hit for a 17 OPS+, albeit in a small sample size of 21 games.

Mets people believe Francisco Alvarez has at least a 50 percent chance of being able to play through the pain of his right thumb injury. One plus: It’s not his receiving hand.