NEW YORK — The New York Mets, streaking in June following a turbulent May, will be without two key contributors for considerable time after closer Edwin Díaz chose not to appeal his 10-game suspension for violating prohibitions on foreign substances and right fielder Starling Marte was placed on the injured list with a right knee bone bruise Tuesday.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Marte, whose IL stint is retroactive to Sunday, will not return to the team for at least a month. The club called up veteran outfielder Ben Gamel to take Marte’s place on the roster.

While the Mets could replace Marte, their bullpen will be a man down without Díaz for the next 10 games. Díaz was ejected before throwing a pitch Sunday in a win over the Chicago Cubs. He was issued the ban Monday and decided not to appeal the decision Tuesday, leaving the Mets relief corps shorthanded as they began a two-game Subway Series with the New York Yankees at Citi Field.

“We want to move on from it,” Mendoza said when asked why Díaz didn’t appeal the suspension. “We don’t want this cloud to be hanging over the team for too long. And we decided it was best.”

On Sunday, Díaz said he used the same legal concoction he’s always used to better grip the baseball: rosin, sweat and dirt. But crew chief Vic Carapazza said the sticky, discolored substance the umpires discovered “definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat.”

Major League Baseball has suspended eight pitchers for foreign substances since it started cracking down on them during the 2021 season. Three have been Mets: Max Scherzer and Drew Smith last year, and Díaz on Sunday.

Mendoza indicated the team planned on making changes to avoid another violation.

“You hate to see it,” Mendoza said. “And as far as doing anything different, from day one, we’ve been very specific and very direct. You hate to see it. I obviously don’t want to get into the details of what we’re going to be doing moving forward, but, obviously, the rules are the rules. Talking to Edwin, obviously, I got his back. I truly believe what he was telling us.”

The suspension was the next chapter in a miserable return to the mound for Díaz, who missed the 2023 season with a torn knee ligament. The 30-year-old right-hander has a 4.70 ERA in 24 appearances and has blown 4-of-11 save opportunities.

Mendoza said he will “mix and match” with the closer role, depending on availability and matchups. The bigger challenge will be navigating a stretch starting Friday of eight games in eight days with an undermanned pitching staff.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to reshuffle some things here, but we just got to take it one game at a time,” Mendoza said. “See where you’re at bullpen-wise and then go from there. The good thing is we got depth. We got people with options and we’ll get through it.”

Marte, meanwhile, is slashing .278/.328/.416 with seven home runs in 66 games this season. Mendoza said Marte, 35, first started feeling knee discomfort during the team’s three-game series in Washington at the beginning of the month. As a result, Mendoza said, the club was careful with Marte’s usage, but “something didn’t look right” after his first at-bat Saturday against the Cubs, so he was pulled.

Mendoza named DJ Stewart, Tyrone Taylor, Jeff McNeil and Gamel as options to play right field in Marte’s absence. Stewart started in right field Sunday. Taylor got the start Tuesday.

NHL draft week is officially upon us. The Stanley Cup was awarded Monday night after one of the greatest Finals in decades. The attention turns away from the game’s brightest stars, away from the silver trophy and toward players who teams hope can be part of their Stanley Cup success in the future.

For the San Jose Sharks, a franchise cornerstone awaits. For the other 31 teams, a plethora of talented forwards and impactful defensemen. What the draft may lack in generational star power, it makes up for in depth. Many of the players selected this weekend will go on to have brilliant NHL careers, win Stanley Cups and blow expectations out of the water.

The final ranking accounts for model projections, model confidence, viewings, combine results and industry intel. Moreso than previous iterations, players will rise and fall in this ranking based on viewings and industry expertise. Be it belief in a player’s ability to make things happen, defensive play that isn’t weighed as heavily in the model or industry hesitancy surrounding the player, there are many reasons players move up and down a list. I prefer to weigh upside and potential more than those within the industry but have gained an appreciation for players with lower ceilings and more projectable development curves.

No one wins or loses the Stanley Cup on draft day, but you can’t win one without nailing a few draft picks along the way. The first step to glory starts Friday.

Here is my final Big Board, with coverage beginning Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+) and Saturday, June 29 (11:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+).

1. Macklin Celebrini
F, Boston University

Previous ranking: 1

A franchise cornerstone center who will have an immediate impact, Celebrini is the top prize of the class for good reason. There is no area of the game where legitimate concerns exist. Simply put, he does not have a weak point. He excels as a 200-foot player, making significant contributions on both ends of the ice. A talent so rare, he became one of the few true freshmen to win the Hobey Baker as the top player in college hockey.

Offensively, he navigates the middle of the ice, disrupts defensive schemes and finds passing lanes that others cannot. His puck protection skills, willingness to play through contact, spin off defenders and maintain play are qualities that will translate well to the NHL. Even without the puck, he remains a scoring threat due to his ability to find open spaces, keep his stick away from defenders and release the puck quickly.

His exceptional toolbox suggests that he will be an elite play driver and two-way center at the NHL level. He’s a player whom coaches will be comfortable using in all situations against other team’s best players. While not generational, he is transformative for a franchise and someone a team can build a Stanley Cup contender around.

After saying in the past that he’d never play for the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is softening his stance.

Guerrero was asked Monday night if he’d reconsider past comments with the Blue Jays languishing in last place in the American League East — 16 games behind the Yankees — and the trade deadline looming July 30.

“Sometimes one says things. It is not that I am trying to take back what I said about the Yankees,” Guerrero told Virus Deportivo on Monday. “But this is a business. I sat down and spoke with my dad [Vladimir Guerrero Sr.] and my family, and this is a business. And I said I would never again talk about this topic and lots of people have asked me about it.”

In 2022, Guerrero Jr. said he’d “never sign with the Yankees — not even dead.” In 2023, he told the New York Post that it was “a personal thing that goes back with my family. … I would never change that.”

But never say never.

“Like I tell you, I’m a player and if a team picks me or if they do something, it’s because they need it, obviously, and I’ll be happy to help any team,” Guerrero told Virus Deportivo on Monday. “But right now, I’m just focused on helping my team try to get out of this bad streak.”

The Yankees are searching for a fix at first base following the injury to Anthony Rizzo, who suffered a broken right forearm and is expected to be sidelined until August. New York acquired J.D. Davis in a trade with the Oakland Athletics, and they also called up Ben Rice from the minors.

But Guerrero, 25, would be a huge addition to an offense that already boasts the likes of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. After a slow start, Guerrero is hitting .286 with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs for the Blue Jays this season, and general manager Ross Atkins has already said that it “doesn’t make any sense” to trade Guerrero, who is under contract through the 2025 season.

Guerrero has drawn the ire of Yankees fans multiple times in the past with theatrics during his home run trot. While rounding the bases after a home run on April 7, Guerrero pointed to fans while he was between first and second base, stopped near shortstop and hopped, and — as he passed third — raised his right index finger to his lips.