Sunday, March 11, 2012

Dropping Like Flies

I try to be optimistic. I try to spin whatever misfortune comes the Mets way into a positive. If a player is injured during Spring Training it means another will have a chance to shine. It means the injured player will be fresher when the season starts. But when there is seemingly a new injury everyday it is hard to find positives in all of them.

Scott Hairston and Kirk Nieuwenhuis both have oblique injuries. David Wright has a rib cage injury. Tim Byrdak has a knee injury. Pedro Beato has a shoulder injury. Lucas Duda has a back injury. Ike Davis has Valley Fever.

I still don't think it's that big of a deal if players miss Spring Training games. They're all professionals and they don't need the excessive reps of exhibition games. What frustrates me is the unpredictability of the injuries. When David Wright or Lucas Duda says they want to come back tomorrow, they feel like they are close to returning, only to feel like they haven't made progress once tomorrow rolls around. The time to say "He'll get into a game next week." will eventually run out.

It's Spring Training. This is when teams have time to shut down players without risking losing important at-bats or innings or a big game. If curing David Wright takes a week of him doing absolutely no baseball activities then this is the time for that week. He knows how to field a ground ball and lace a double into right field. But he has to be healthy to do it.

There are still three and a half weeks until Opening Day. That's plenty of time for healthy players to get injured and injured players to return from injuries. It's frustrating but it's going to happen.

Let's Go Mets!

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