All Alejandro De Aza and Eric Campbell jokes aside, how many times has this Mets team played a game with a full 25 man roster at its disposal?  Given the fact that Hansel Robles had to serve a two game suspension to start the season, it didn’t even happen on Opening Day.

There have been several occasions where Mets players have gotten nicked up forcing the Mets to make the decision of whether they should play with a short-handed roster for a few games or whether they should put that player on the disabled list.  Time and again, the Mets have understandably gone with a short roster as it is better to be without an important player for a game or two rather than being without an important piece for a 13-15 game stretch.  With the Mets in a tight race for one of the two Wild Cards and them trying to claw their way back into the race for the National League East race, they do not want to lose a player like Yoenis Cespedes for two weeks even as he is now clearly hobbled out there with his right quad injury.

Instead, the Mets will put Cespedes in left field hoping that he can manage his injury while Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto, who had struggled in part to due a wrist injury that required a cortisone shot, try to hold down center field in the interim.  Keep in mind this isn’t the first time that Cespedes has been nicked up this year.  Earlier in the year, he was dealing with a hip issue that sapped him of some of his power.  The Mets tried to give him a day here and there, but ultimately, they had to run him out there as he is the most important hitter in that lineup.  Cespedes isn’t the only Mets player who dealt with injuries the Mets tried to navigate without a disabled list stint.

With Conforto and De Aza struggling in June, the Mets tried to avoid putting Juan Lagares on the disabled list with a torn ligament in his left thumb as the team needed his defense and his bat in the lineup.  Asdrubal Cabrera has played much of the season with a knee injury that has troubled him since Spring Training.  There was a stretch where Robles pitched through a sprained ankle.  Steven Matz has the bone spurs in his elbow, and he could clearly benefit from a little breather to give his arm a bit of a break.

Putting teams in a position where they have to play with short-handed rosters is not good for the team.  It’s not good for baseball or its fans. Regardless of your favorite team, when you sit down to watch a game, you want to see two teams at their best face-off. But that doesn’t always happen. Part of the reason is the current disabled list rules are antiquated.

The current disabled list system has been in place for 26 years. In 1990, MLB had added a 60 day disabled list to go in conjuction with the already existing 15 day disabled list. It replaced a system that had been in place for 24 years to reflect how baseball had changed.

And baseball has changed since 1990 especially with the banning of amphetamines and other PED substances. Whether true or not, it seems players get nicked up a little more frequently than they did a decade or so ago.

With that in mind, baseball should shorten the disabled list from 15 games to seven games. It should be noted baseball already has a seven day disabled list for concussions. It should be further noted there is a seven day disabled list in the minor leagues.

Speaking of minor leaguers, those players aren’t getting as much of a chance with the current 15 day disabled list. Right now, the Mets are trying to navigate through Cespedes’ quad injury while a player like Brandon Nimmo is playing in AAA. If there was a seven day disabled list, the Mets might be more inclined to utilize it so their best player could get healthy. It would give the Mets a full 25 man roster at their disposal. It would make them a better team, which in turn, would make for a better product for the fans to watch.

All that would need to happen for fans to see a better product is for baseball to implement the seven day disabled list.  It already exists for concussions and the minors. It should be in place for all of baseball regardless of injury.