A favorite ploy of managers and athletes is to use the phrase, “I don’t want to use injuries as an excuse.” Of course they immediately go on to do just that. Injuries are part of the game, we all get that. But at some point, it would be nice if the Mets weren’t hanging around the league leaders in time missed to injury. Here’s this year’s list of the walking wounded:
Vic Black – shoulder
Jerry Blevins – forearm
Buddy Carlyle – back
Travis d’Arnaud – hand
Josh Edgin – elbow
Dillon Gee – groin
Erik Goeddel – elbow
Dilson Herrera – finger
Jenrry Mejia – elbow
Rafael Montero – shoulder
Daniel Murphy – quad
Bobby Parnell – elbow
Cesar Puello – back
Zack Wheeler – elbow
David Wright – hamstring/back
That’s 15 separate guys and not one of them missed the minimum of 15 days. Goeddel is 10 days and counting and there’s been no update on his status so we shouldn’t expect him anytime soon. Murphy has missed 18 days and counting. He was supposed to be activated Tuesday but now that’s been pushed back to the weekend. Herrera missed 27 days and everyone else is a month or more.
Nathan Currier’s terrific Man Games Lost site lists the Mets having lost 761 days to the disabled list in his June 20 update. That’s a whopping 247 days more than the next team (Dodgers) in the National League. The Mets are second in MLB, trailing the equally-cursed Texas Rangers, who have 833 games missed as of this update.
Earlier, Jeff Zimmerman did an historical look at days lost to the DL by team. In the period from 2002-2014, the Rangers and Mets finished 1-2 in days lost, with both teams surpassing an average of 1,000 days lost per year in this 13-year sample. Contrast that with the White Sox, who lost an average of fewer than 500 games per year over the same time period.
We’re not even to the All-Star break and the Mets have blown past what the White Sox typically do in a year. It’s not just the White Sox. Zimmerman notes that the AL Central has five of the six lowest days lost totals over the past five years.
It’s impossible to say how much of this is bad luck compared to how much is bad “skill.” But as a fan, I’m yelling uncle at the top of my lungs. We may not see our Opening Day lineup the rest of the year, depending on if Wright can make it back from the DL and if Juan Lagares can continue to play through his elbow pain and remain off.
Just once it would be nice to see how the AL Central lives.
It’s disheartening as a fan. It feels like we’re constantly saying, just wait til so-and-so get back and then another guy goes down. It’s a miracle that our 3 outfielders have stayed healthy and as I’ve been saying since December, it will be a disaster when one them goes down.
Bad medical staff?I know it has been suggested in the past,especially with pitchers.
That certainly has to be some kind of factor. I mean how can two franchise have continuous bad luck for 13 years. At some point don’t you look around and go, what can we do to help this from happening again? Did Barwis help or hurt us?
How about the Cardinals? They lost their ace Wainright in April and in May lost their starting first baseman Matt Adams. They tragically lost their RF Tavares in a car accident during the off season and have had their share of injuries with SP Lynn and Matt Holiday currently om the DL..Molia was playing hurt. Despite their injuries the Cardinals have the best record in baseball. The Mets…
When Taveras passed, they went out and got an MLB replacement in Heyward because they weren’t afraid to make a deal involving a young pitcher.
Hey, hats off to the Cardinals. Hacking aside, they’re the org we should be trying to duplicate. They still haven’t come close to the DL losses this year that the Mets have.
Over time with Wainright and Adams out for the year the number of games separating the 2 teams will close significantly. Holiday is a habitual DLer. The Cards lost their ace and still have the best record in baseball.
The problem with looking at this by the numbers is it assumes losing Cesar Puello is equal to losing David Wright. The Mets have had a lot of injuries, but until Murphy went down only two were to starting players (Wright and d’Arnaud) and shortly after Murphy became injured d’Arnaud came back.
Granderson, Duda, and Cuddyer have stayed on the field. We had one major injury to our rotation in Wheeler, which is basically what you can expect. The argument for years was that Sandy Alderson was building organizational depth while he was giving away season after season. If that was true this team would not be tanking.
There is no depth, not one offensive player who was brought in has been able to play at the major league level. Campbell, Muno, Kirk, Herrara, Plawecki, etc. were all atrocious. It is not realistic to expect these guys to be as good as Murphy or Wright. It is realistic to expect a few players who can do something well while filling in.
Now this has plenty to do with the owners. Decent backups cost money, especially when you have a barren farm system, as none of Sandy’s picks have progressed to major league caliber.
Injures are just another excuse. I’m sick of excuses.
Puello is certainly the outlier but even if we exclude him, the Mets still have over 100 more DL days lost than any other NL team. And I don’t think anyone expects any team’s injuries and players lost to be the equivalent of Wright. The Rangers’ DL includes Antoan Richardson, Lisalverto Bonilla and Kyle Blanks.
Wasn’t Beltre also on the DL for the Rangers? I know he just got reactivated but he’s going to play hurt
By the way, an organization focused on winning, and not the 2020 payroll, would have Conforto up here tomorrow. There is real upside and no downside, unless you think that he cannot out produce ROY candidate Cecilani. If Conforto struggles mightily he can always go back down.
Lagares is hurt and needs to go on the DL. We need an outfielder and have a prospect who might be able to provide some juice for this offense. For once it would be nice to see this group try to do something to win games at the major league level. If we end up with Kirk back up here I’m worried for my health.
That would be the ultimate stress test!
Knowing this, I fear for your health, too.
I hope you have health insurance.
I think Bryant from the Cubs has ROY pretty much locked up.
#1 in injuries by a sizable amount in the NL is reason enough to sabotage a season. Sabotage yes; give up on, no.
Plawecki and Herrera are dissappointments. They were the two best offensive players in the system and are playing well below major league standards. In 2015 they need to be replaced with major league ready veteran talent if the Mets intend to compete in 2015. Unfortunately that will cost the Mets some minor league talent.
The lack of trade action is frustrating. Gee for Uribe was not pursued. It would have cost the Mets about $1 M for that trade. That trade was a trade for a future minor league pitcher for a bench player that for the past month could have helped plug the dike. Campbell or Uribe at 3B ? That frees up Tejada over Herrera at 2B. The front office has to show some urgency because the players that they are putting on the field are inadequate in 2015.
Urgency means the FO is looking to win as its priority. You honestly believe the Met owners are really going all out to win? Yes they would like to win (especially at home). But our beloved owners are beholden to their lenders. I can already hear the battle cry. Damn injuries. We’ll get them next year when Wright and Wheeler are healthy again. The magic is back! Right! Sure! Gag!
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