Reese Kaplan -- Bad Luck or Lack of Planning?

A lot of people heard the news about Jeff McNeil’s injury and immediately groaned something to the effect of how the club seems snakebitten by the injury bug.  It somehow seems that the Mets are disproportionately afflicted with injuries from the minor, nagging day-to-day variety, to the major ones requiring months of rehab.  Since the season started, let’s take a look at just how many injuries there have been.

• Drew Smith – Out for the season – Tommy John Surgery
• Franklyn Kilome – Out for the season – Tommy John Surgery
• Yoenis Cespedes – Out for the season – Heel Surgery and Complications from a Fall at His Ranch
• Robinson Cano – Likely out for the season – Hamstring Tear
• Jed Lowrie – Out since season began – A Variety of Lower Extremity Injuries
• Jacob Rhame – Out for the season – Tommy John Surgery
• Brandon Nimmo – Out since May – Neck Injury
• Dom Smith – Out since July – Foot Injury

Then there are the shorter term injuries that have plagued the team as well…not quite in strictly chronological order:

• Todd Frazier
• Travis d’Arnaud
• Jacob deGrom
• Luis Avilan
• Jeurys Familia
• Justin Wilson
• Jason Vargas
• Steven Matz
• Seth Lugo
• Michael Conforto
• Jeff McNeil (twice)
• Robinson Cano (twice)
• Noah Syndergaard
• Zack Wheeler

So are the Mets simply born under a bad sign, do their trainers and conditioning people need to be replaced yet again, or is what we’re seeing fairly typical?  In the past you used to be able to hit some websites that tracked such things across major league baseball, but now the only one that pops up is a rather expensive subscription service to get this report. 

I did find historically for the year 2018 the NY Mets did lead the league in something – roster impact of injuries.  That number is calculated by factoring in the expected contributions of the missing players on the club’s won/lost record.  That’s not necessarily a badge of honor. 

I would think that with three players out for the season (two of whom likely figured into plans – Cespedes and Drew Smith) – that’s a “good” start towards a repeat of the dubious league leading honor.  Then you have All Star Jed Lowrie who hasn’t suited up to play a game in Queens yet, high impact starting outfielder Brandon Nimmo gone for most of the year (but mitigated somewhat by the contributions of now-injured Dom Smith and J.D. Davis), the entire starting rotation at one time or another, as well as most of your bullpen, they certainly can lay claim to injury royalty.  

About the only teams that might come close are the Dodgers and the Yankees, but they managed to stay in 1^st place despite the maladies afflicting members of their roster.   They don’t rely on Aaron Altherr and Wilmer Font types to carry the load when starters are unavailable.

To be fair, BVW did acquire Lowrie, Keon Broxton, J.D. Davis and others to fortify the bench and bullpen roles.  He really only whiffed (if you’ll forgive the expression) on Broxton.  Others have been injured or playing as if injuries have yet to be announced (Edwin Diaz, anyone?).  In fact, had the two Seattle imports performed as expected, it could be the Braves looking up at the Mets right now.