The Morning Report 2.25.2015 | Duda Injury, Parnell Facing Live Batters, Jury Duty, Granderson's Streaks.

Tim Rohan | New York Times - "He played a few games in Japan with a contingent of fellow major leaguers. He worked out with Mike Barwis, the Mets’ strength and conditioning consultant. He kept swinging and swinging and swinging. If he took any time off, it was measured in days, not months. Gradually, after all those swings, his left intercostal muscle — a muscle in the chest wall — started to feel sore. It became sore enough that for the last few weeks, Duda has stopped swinging altogether. He will not swing a bat for at least a few more days."

(Chris Soto: There comes a point where the human body actually needs rest....not more work. It sounds like Duda ignored the initial signs of pain and blew through this fine line and ended up injuring himself. Intercostal strains are not pretty injuries and generally linger for a while, luckily for the Mets this happened a while ago and Duda is already on his 3rd or 4th week of rest.)

Adam Rubin | ESPN New York - "So much attention has been paid to Matt Harvey facing batters as soon as Thursday for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery. Well, Bobby Parnell will only be a few days behind. Parnell expects to throw one more bullpen session on Thursday, then face batters this weekend for the first time since his procedure. "

(Chris Soto: From the sounds of it Parnell is right on schedule in his rehab. The only reason he is so close to Harvey's time schedule is because the front office is being so cautious with Harvey. I would not be surprised if Parnell gets held back in St. Lucie past May 1st, especially if the team is doing well with Mejia in the closer's role.)

Jared Diamond | Wall Street Journal - "People who work in baseball might be rich and famous, but that doesn’t stop them from having to fulfill their civic duties. Players, coaches and executives are frequently summoned for jury service, just like every other American citizen. Unlike the average citizen, however, they can usually get out of it without much effort. Rarely is one of them actually selected to sit on a jury."

Question: What do you do for a living?
Alderson: I’m the general manager of the New York Mets.
Question: What does your spouse do?
Alderson: Actually, my wife’s sitting right behind me.
Question: What do you do in your free time?

Alderson: Well, now I’m looking for a shortstop.

The courtroom burst into laughter. (Alderson emphasized that he meant his remark as a joke.)

(Chris Soto: No one is above the government! I know Alderson's humor pisses off a lot of Mets fans....but I for one enjoy his little jokes every once in a while. This was weeks ago during the off-season when fans were clamoring for Alderson to sign a SS so the joke is justified. I commend Alderson for sticking to his guns and giving Flores a try. He's going to surprise fans this year.)

Kevin Davidoff | New York Post - "“He went through those streaks. I know he’s done it in the past,” Terry Collins said of Granderson. “I talked to guys with the Yankees. They said, ‘Look, there’s going to be times when you’re going to say, ‘Gosh, how can this happen?’ And yet there’s going to be times he’s going to carry you. And that’s what he did.” Granderson did establish his reputation as a streaky player with both the Tigers and the Yankees. In his first year as a Met, however, the soon-to-be 34-year-old wasn’t just streaky. He put up a 2014 that could be labeled bipolar.”

(Chris Soto: Grandy does in fact have a long history of streakiness so it shouldn't surprise anyone if he display that again this season. The only difference now is that this year's club has so much more balance in the line-up that if a guy like Grandy or Wright or Duda does get cold, there are others guys who can pick up the slack. Every batter from 1-8 is capable of hitting 15 HRs this year. )