West Palm Beach, Fla. — For most of Gerrit Cole’s Yankees career, Carlos Mendoza sat beside manager Aaron Boone as his bench coach.

On Tuesday, as Mendoza’s Mets prepared to play the Houston Astros at Cacti Park, he reacted to the news that Cole was headed for season-ending Tommy John surgery.

“You hate to see it … especially when you’re talking about one of the best players, one of the best pitchers in the game,” Mendoza said. At the end of the day, it comes down to putting a show for the fans and for baseball, and when you see something go down like that, it’s not good.

“Knowing Gerrit, he’s going to do everything he can in his power, and knowing the organization, he’ll be back on the field sooner rather than later.”

The Mets have dealt with their share of injuries in his tenure with the team. Last season, he was without ace Kodai Senga for all but 5 1/3 regular-season innings.

Now, he’s down three key players with Opening Day a little over two weeks away.

Right-hander Frankie Montas, who the Mets signed for two years, $34 million this winter, is out until early June with a lat injury suffered in the first week of camp; Left-hander Sean Manaea still hasn’t begun his throwing progression after being shut down with an oblique injury; And catcher Francisco Alvarez is out 6-8 weeks with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand.

The Yankees are in a similar position. On top of Cole, they’ll be without 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Luis Gil with a similar injury to Montas’, and they’ll be without slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who’s dealing with a severe case of tennis elbow on both arms, indefinitely.