CHICAGO -- For two and a half weeks, the Mets have tried to manage Starling Marte's right knee condition. When Marte initially sat out a June 5 game in Washington, he called it a complete non-issue. But when Marte’s knee flared up a week and a half later in New York, the Mets showed enough concern to sit him twice over a three-game stretch.

Saturday at Wrigley Field, his issue became even more pronounced. After Marte exited the Mets’ 8-1 loss to the Cubs midway through the second inning, team officials drew up plans to rest him Sunday and send him for medical testing when the club returns to New York the following day.

While the Mets aren’t convinced anything significant is wrong with their starting right fielder, that outcome does remain in play.

“It’s obviously something to worry about,” Marte said through an interpreter. “Obviously you want those results to come back negative.”

While Marte doesn’t believe he’ll require an injured list stint, Mets officials aren’t so sure, with manager Carlos Mendoza saying that it’s “too early to tell.” Even if the testing Marte undergoes on Monday reveals no structural damage, a trip to the IL could help him overcome the issue permanently, rather than continue to manage it on a daily basis. (Because Marte will sit out Sunday’s game no matter what, and because the Mets have two off-days coming up this week, an IL stint would only cost him seven additional games.)

But players tend not to want to go on the IL if they don’t have to. Marte is no exception.

“I don’t want to be out for a considerable amount of time,” he said, “especially with the team playing as well as we are right now.”

As the Mets’ everyday right fielder, Marte has been a significant part of the club’s offensive renaissance and overall success. Entering Saturday’s play, he had hit safely in 12 of his past 15 games, with a .357/.419/.518 slash line and five extra-base hits over that stretch. Although Marte’s defense has uncharacteristically left much to be desired, he’s been a well-above-average hitter in the middle of New York’s order.

“He’s an important part of our team,” Mendoza said, “the way he’s swinging the bat and what he brings to the table in so many different areas of the game.”

Injuries are nothing new for Marte, whose only full, healthy season came back in 2015 with the Pirates. He’s been on the IL seven times since then, for problems with his lower back, oblique, abdominal wall, rib, middle finger and groin. Last year, Marte played through discomfort stemming from a Nov. 2022 operation on both sides of his groin, before ultimately sitting out the season’s final eight weeks. He also spent time on the IL due to migraines.

Until early this month, however, Marte had never experienced knee pain in his life.

“I thought we’ve been doing a pretty good job, especially with our communication with him and him being honest with me and all of us,” Mendoza said. “That’s why there’s been days where he’s been off when he felt like he could have played. … But as of late, that knee continues to bother him. We’ve just got to wait and see what we’re dealing with.”

If Marte does miss more than a day or two, the Mets are well-covered, with Harrison Bader thriving in a near-everyday role. The Mets can roll with some combination of Bader, Brandon Nimmo, Tyrone Taylor and DJ Stewart in the outfield, knowing they also have Jeff McNeil available to play a corner spot in a pinch.

But that wouldn’t remove the sting of an injury to Marte, a 13-year veteran who -- at his best -- is a top-of-the-lineup hitter boasting a rare combination of power and speed, strong outfield defense and excellence on the basepaths. At age 35, Marte hasn’t regularly been all of those things for the Mets. But he’s still the type of player the team wants to see in its lineup most every day.

“We’ll see what we’re dealing with here,” Mendoza said. “Hopefully it’s nothing serious, and in a couple days he’ll be back there. We’ve just got to wait.”