Reese Kaplan – Playing Shorthanded

So once again the decision makers at the New York Mets have decided rather than allow players to go on the disabled list to recover properly from injury they will voluntarily play shorthanded and handicap the already challenged manager. 

Take Yoenis Cespedes.  When his quad injury occurred, they figured they would ride it out.  He missed 9 straight days from the time he left early, then missed another game the following week and is on the shelf again now.  Doesn’t it seem reasonable to think that had he been given the 15 days in a row off when the injury occurred that he would be healed and in playing shape by now?

Then there’s Jose Reyes.  Has anyone had an intercostal muscle strain?  It’s quite painful just sitting and doing nothing ,let alone playing sports at the professional level.  Every time your torso twists it feels like a knife slicing into you, but the Mets feel a day or two of rest will make everything all better.  Did they tell him to rub some dirt in it and get back out there?  According to various online sources on recovery:

"The recovery time for a muscle strain in the ribs can take around two weeks for a mild strain, three to four weeks for a moderate strain, and up to eight weeks for a severe strain. Even if there is a muscle tear, these injuries usually don't take longer than eight weeks to heal. Your doctor may advise no lifting or strenuous activity for a few weeks. Also, bed-rest or quiet rest in a chair may be required. During the time, you may need anti-inflammatory medications (Ibuprofen) and muscle relaxers to relieve muscle spasms."

The only silver lining to this one is that Wilmer Flores (remember him?) is finally getting some at-bats. 

Now the torn thumb ligament of Juan Lagares was also magically supposed to heal with a few days of rest and therapy.  In this case they did allow him to go onto the DL, but rushed him back.  Surprise, surprise, he’s back on the DL again.  Hey, no one likes to send a player under the knife for surgery when it spells the end of his season, but you have a long term investment in the man and you’d think they’d want him healed as quickly as possible rather than having him play through it and perhaps exacerbating the injury. 

So tonight look for an all-lefty outfield of Michael Conforto,  Alejandro De Aza and Curtis Granderson as the team has pretty much no one else except occasional outfielder (and fellow lefty) Kelly Johnson to trot out there while they again play shorthanded.  Could we see Jose Reyes make his talked about but never happened debut in the outfield?  Nope, he’s on the shelf, too. 

Come to think of it, going into this game Skipper has a bench of the aforementioned Johnson, a catcher and Brandon Nimmo.  Is it any wonder the team can’t win?