David Wright Injury Tracker | Diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis. In California to see specialist.
Jared Diamond | Wall Street Journal- When a baseball team leans on its farm system to carry it through a long season, it is typically out of desperation, not design. The Mets have already had seven players make their major-league debuts this season. But despite their overwhelming reliance on youth and inexperience, the Mets have stayed afloat. After Tuesday’s 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, they have a record of 26-21, sitting 1½ games behind the Washington Nationals for first place in the National League East. For the Mets to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2006, they’ll need their regulars to get healthy. But if it happens, they will owe their fill-ins a debt of gratitude.
(Chris Soto: Despite some guys being terrible beyond belief...there are others who are doing an unbelievable job filling into unexpected starting roles. Campbell, while inconsistent, has done a good job holding down 3B while Wright is out and Plawecki is showing that he can be a MLB caliber Catcher both defensively and offensively once he develops. In the bullpen, Erik Goeddel has really stepped it up and is beginning to warrant more high leverage appearances and in the rotation Syndergaard has forced his way onto the team and made Gee an afterthought.)
Mike Vorkunov | NJ Advance Media- After 47 games, the Mets are now more than a quarter of the way into their season. At 26-21, they're at second place in the National League East. But how are things going on an individual level. Here are some grades to give you an idea of who's doing well and who needs an improvement.
Matt Harvey: A | He's been exactly as hoped for. Harvey has been mostly dominant and even found a way to pitch deep into games.
Bartolo Colon: B+ for pitching | A for fun
Wilmer Flores: B | He hasn't been perfect but consider Flores in context of the sport now. He leads all shortstops in home runs and that, despite his errors, seems like a worthwhile tradeoff.
Jeurys Familia: A | What else could the Mets ask of Familia this year? He's made the transition to closer with ease. He's been a shutdown reliever and provided calm in the late innings.
(Chris Soto: For the most part a lot of guys deserve high grades. Others, like Cuddyer and Grandy, while not living up the contractual expectations, are more in the "C" then they are failing. Unfortunately, the team is missing some extremely valuable pieces and that is hurting them significantly both offensively and in the back-end of the bullpen.)
Matt Vavaro | Amazin Avenue- It's no secret that the Mets’ offense has been terrible lately. Last week, the team scored just 13 total runs in seven games against the Cardinals and Pirates. The most glaring hole has been that left by Wright. Eric Campbell and Ruben Tejada have both gotten opportunities at third, but neither has hit enough to justify being a major league starter. While Muno has flashed strong on-base skills, he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in hitter-friendly Las Vegas. Given Muno’s limited offensive upside and the potentially long-term nature of Wright’s injury, maybe it’s time to give serious consideration to another 51s infielder: Alex Castellanos.
(Chris Soto: The Castellanos bandwagon is continuing to grow as sub after sub continues to struggle offensively to fill in for Wright at 3B. Castellanos certainly warrants the promotion; In 36 games he is hitting .278 with a .989 OPS on the strength of 9 HR and 14 extra base hits. The only thing that seems to be holding Castellanos back is the fact that he is not on the 40 man roster. In addition, there are no clear cut options for DFA nor anyone to transfer from the 15 to the 60 day DL.)
Sources: #Mets insured Wright contract. Once he misses 60 days, team would recoup 75 percent of contract while he is unable to play.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 27, 2015
(Chris Soto: This is today's big news. While we are still 18 days away from reaching 60 days missed, the fact that the team will be able to recoup some salary is huge considering this spinal stenosis diagnosis has a chance of being a long term nuisance. To put it in plane terms, every day after the 60th day that Wright is out, the team will recoup $82,500 per day. Heaven forbid that this is a long term injury that he is unable to play with....across a full season that can support a salary of $15M per season. There are a lot of good players in that salary range.)
