Matt Harvey
Commissioner Rob Manfred has recently announced that he is interested in introducing a pitch clock to Major League Baseball. The pitch clock was first introduced last year in the upper levels of the minors, and it appears the Commissioner is pleased with it’s progress.
The rule as stated is that a pitcher must starts his windup or motion within 20 seconds of having the ball while stepping on the pitching rubber. The rule has initiated in the minors to help speed the pace of play which has been the Commissioner’s focus since he took over for Bud Selig. The Commissioner has considered various routes including limiting the use of relievers. However, it appears the Commissioner is focusing upon the pitch clock as a means to improve the pace a play. It’s a bad idea that may lead to pitcher injuries.
According to a recent study from the Journal of Sports Science, there is a link between the amount of time a pitcher takes between pitches and arm injuries. The researchers, Michael Sonne and Peter Keir analyzed the amount of time between pitches and arm injuries, and from there, they were able to make the correlation. According to Sonne, “One of the risk factors that we typically look at with muscle fatigue and injury is the amount of time people have to recover from doing effort.” (Brendan Kennedy, The Star). When a pitcher experiences fatigue according to Sonne, “you essentially lose the ability to stabliize the (elbow) joint as they throw.” Overall, when looking at pitchers, Sonne states you need to look “at the duration of exposure to pitching, but also the duration of rest.”
To that end, the researchers have concluded that baseball’s proposed 20 second pitch clock is a bad idea. Sonne states, “If you put in this pitch clock it’s a very cut-and-dry way of reducing the amount of recovery time that a pitcher has.”Sonne and Keir concluded that the 20 second pitch clock would create muscle fatigue for pitchers who take longer than 20 seconds between pitches, and as a result, it would expose them to injury. It may not seem like a big deal, but as Sonne points out, “It seems like a small amount, but when a pitcher is throwing at maximum effort, every bit of muscle force matters.”
This proposed rule is a huge problem for the Mets young pitchers. As per Fangraphs, the young Mets starters have needed more than 20 seconds to throw a pitch
| Name | Team | Pace | Pitches |
| Noah Syndergaard | Mets | 23.9 | 2,238 |
| Steven Matz | Mets | 18.7 | 2,153 |
| Jacob deGrom | Mets | 21.1 | 2,065 |
| Matt Harvey | Mets | 21.5 | 1,514 |
It should be noted that according to FiveThirtyEight, a pitcher’s pace is the one statistic that remains consistent each and every year. A pitchers ERA, WHIP, K/9, etc. will rise and fall each and every year, but pace is the one thing that remains largely unchanged. This means that Syndergaard’s, deGrom’s, and Harvey’s health would be at risk in the event that the 20 second pitch clock were implemented.
Keep in mind that Harvey, Matz, and deGrom have already had Tommy John surgery. Additionally, Harvey recently had surgery to remove a rib to help alleviate the symptoms from his thoracic outlet syndrome. While Syndergaard has not had Tommy John surgery, he has been dealing with bone spurs in his elbow. Syndergaard also throws the ball at a high velocity, has begun throwing a slider with much more frequency, and he is experiencing a large jump in his innings pitched from 2014. Adding a pitch clock will only further serve to create another possible avenue by which Syndergaard, and really all young pitchers, could injure themselves.
The pitch clock sounds good in theory as a faster pace of play will certainly be more enjoyable for the fans to watch. However, the pitch clock will be counterproductive if it prevents the best and most exciting pitchers from taking the mound. The best fix might be to instill the good habits in the minor leagues and hope they carry those good habits forward.
Regardless of the results what Steven Matz has been doing this season has been admirable. Matz knows he’s going to need surgery in the offseason to remove bone spurs in his elbow, and yet he still goes out there and pitches because his team needs him.
With that said the results haven’t been pretty. From June 7th until August 9th, Matz has gone 1-7 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.435 WHIP. That is a precipitous drop from the guy who started the year 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.030 WHIP. The main reason for the dip is he’s getting hit much harder. He’s gone from an 18% line drive rate with batters hitting .225/.272/.294 with four homers to a 28% line drive rate with batters hitting .297/.346/.475 with 10 homers.
During his slump or whatever you want to call it, Matz has been without his main breaking pitch – the fabled Warthen slider. In the beginning of the year, he threw it 15% of the time. Beginning June 7th, he was only throwing it 8% of the time.
In place of the change, Matz began throwing more changeups going from throwing it 9% of the time to throwing it 14% of the time. It’s not a wise move as opposing batters hit .340 against the pitch while slugging .630. He’s fooling no one with the changeup and the opposition has been teeing off on the pitch.
Sunday, Matz effectively scrapped both his changeup and his slider focusing on his fastball and curveball. The result was a near no-hitter.
Over 7.1 dazzling innings, Matz only allowed the one hit allowing no runs and two walks with eight strikeouts. It was his best start since May. It was a return to the Steven Matz everyone once believed would emerge to join Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard as one of four aces atop the Mets staff.
Matz did it, in part, because he threw a lot more curveballs. He threw 29% curves on Sunday after throwing it 14% of the time ro start the year. It was the right move as it’s arguably his second best pitch (after his abandoned slider). Matz limits batters to a .235 batting average with his curveball, which is the second lowest batting average allowed against any one of his pitches.
With the fastball and curveball working, the only player who would get a hit off of Matz would be Alex Rios‘ former teammate Alexei Ramirez. Like Harvey, Matz wouldn’t get the no-hitter. Unlike Harvey, his teammates would score runs did him a get the win.
Wilmer Flores and Neil Walker hit solo homers in the first two innings respectively off Padres left-hander Clayton Richard giving Matz and the Mets a 2-0 lead.
In the eighth, the Mets actually scored some insurance runs. Jose Reyes led off the inning with a single. He’d steal second and move to third when Padres catcher Derek Norris threw it into center. Reyes then scored on a Jose Dominguez wild pitch. All of this happened during Ty Kelly‘s at bat. It was vintage Reyes.
The rally continued after the Reyes one man show, and it culminated in a T.J. Rivera two out two RBI double scoring Kelly and Jay Bruce. It was the first extra base hit and RBI in Kelly’s young career. It made the score 5-0.
The final score would be 5-1 after Gabriel Ynoa allowed a run in the ninth. On the bright side, the Mets are 2-0 in games Ynoa pitched. Speaking of which, the Mets have finally won two games in a row.
Overall, the story was Matz. He had a magical afternoon, and he made an adjustment to allow him to pitch more effectively.
Pennant Race: Thr Marlins beat the White Sox 5-4. The Nationals beat the Braves 9-1. Three Cardinals beat the Cubs 6-4. The Pirates bested the Dodgers 11-4.
For the second straight year, it appears that the Mets have been snakebitten. They have lost Lucas Duda, Matt Harvey, and David Wright to season ending injuries. It would be easy to blame injuries like these as well as the other injuries the Mets have had for the team underachieving this season. There’s just one problem with that – the Mets have been amongst the healthiest teams in all of baseball.
According to Spotrac, the Mets rank 15th in the majors and 8th in the National League with the team having placed 13 players on the disabled list. With those 13 players on the disabled list, the Mets have missed 549 player days, which ranks 23rd in the majors and 12th in the National League.
Now, there are some fair criticisms in pointing just to the disabled list figures. First, as we have seen with the Mets handling of Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets wait too long before putting a player on the disabled list. Second, this list does not account for players like Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard who are pitching despite having bone spurs in their elbows which will have to be surgically removed in the offseason. However, this point-of-view is a bit myopic when considering the injuries the Mets main competition for the two Wild Card spots have endured.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The 63-49 Dodgers currently have the top Wild Card spot by four games. They have also put a major league leading 25 players on the disabled list while losing a major league leading 1,400 player days.
Brett Anderson was gone for the season before he threw a pitch, Hyun-Jin Ryu only made one start, and Alex Wood lasted just 10 starts. That’s 3/5 of the Dodgers Opening Day rotation up in smoke. On top of that, the Dodgers have lost important bullpen pieces in Yimi Garcia and Chin-hui Tsao.
The Dodgers have also been decimated in the outfield. Valuable fourth outfielder and bench bat Andre Ethier was also gone before the season started. He was needed more than usual considering the Dodgers finally released Carl Crawford, had to deal with Yasiel Puig not producing, and recently losing the pleasantly surprising Trayce Thompson in the outfield.
All of this pales in comparison to the Dodgers losing Clayton Kershaw to the disabled list. Kershaw was once again dominating, was the presumptive Cy Young Award winner, and quite possibly an MVP candidate. With his back injury, no one can be quite sure when he will return. There is no more damaging blow to any team in all of baseball than the Dodgers losing Kershaw.
And yet, the Dodgers keep winning games, and that is why they find themselves the current Wild Card leader.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have put one fewer player on the disabled list than the Mets, but they have also lost 174 more player days to the disabled list. Like the Dodgers, they are also ahead of the Mets in the Wild Card Standings.
The biggest injury the Cardinals have had to deal with is their starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Offseason surgery to repair a ligament in his left thumb has limited him to 36 games this season. When he has played, he has been largely ineffective. Initially, the Cardinals opted to go with Mets cast-off Ruben Tejada as Peralta’s short term replacment, but he was inffective and wounded up on the disabled list himself. His replacement, Aledmys Diaz was having a terrific rookie season which led to him being named an All Start. However, he is now on the disabled list with a hairline fracture in this thumb.
The Cardinals have also had a number of key position player injuries. During the season, the Cardinals have placed Brandon Moss and Tommy Pham on the disabled list at points during the season. This has left the team looking to find solutions at first base and center field during the season.
The Cardinals pitching staff has also been hit hard. Lance Lynn went from a member of the rotation to losing the entire 2016 season to Tommy John surgery. Closer Trevor Rosenthal has been dealing with injuries and ineffectiveness all year, and he has finally wound up on the disabled list. One of his key set-up men, Jordan Walden, has yet to throw a pitch all season due to a shoulder strain and a lat injury. The team also had to deal with losing key relievers from last season, Seth Maness and Kevin Siegrist, for a stretch of time.
Recently, they had Michael Wacha and Matt Holliday go down with what could be season ending injuries.
Despite these injuries, the Cardinals are 2.5 games up on the Mets this season in the Wild Card standings.
National League East
It is interesting to note that the two teams the Mets are chasing in the National League East, the Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals, are two of the healthiest teams in all of baseball.
For the Marlins part, it seems to be a combination of good luck and youth. Seven of the eight Marlins everyday players are 28 and younger. The two 28 year olds, Justin Bour (ankle sprain) and Dee Gordon (PED suspension) are the only players from the starting lineup to be placed on the disabled list this season.
Other than Wei-Yin Chen, the Marlins pitching staff has been remarkably healthy. Most importantly, Jose Fernandez has been the dominant starting pitcher he was always supposed to be.
The Nationals being so health is quite remarkable. Each and every season, players like Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Jayson Werth, and Ryan Zimmerman were usually good for at least one disabled list stint during the course of the season. So far this year, Starsburg had a short stint on the disabled list, and Zimmerman just landed on the disabled list with a wrist contusion.
The reason why the Nationals are in a much better place injury wise is part luck, but it is mostly them doing things differently. They created a larger and a multi disciplined medical team of experts to address injuries. They have addressed each and every aspect of player preparation and health. The result so far is a much healthier Nationals team both on and off the field.
The Nationals changing how they have approached injuries show how other teams have adapted and dealt with injuries better than the Mets – so have the other teams competing for the two Wild Card spots. The Mets aren’t trailing in the Wild Card race due to their health. In fact, they may still be in the race because the Dodgers and Cardinals have had to deal with more injuries than they have.
Normally, you don’t fire someone until you have a viable replacement in place. It’s not the prudent course of action, and ultimately, you can make matters worse by acting off raw emotion to quickly fire someone. However, it’s time. The Mets need to move on from Terry Collins despite the lack of an obvious suitable replacement.
This isn’t said lightly. It was his ability to manage the clubhouse that kept the team together last summer until the Mets could make the trades to add Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, and Yoenis Cespedes. Despite your impressions of his in-game management, Collins was the manager of a team that went to the World Series last year.
More than that, Collins appears to be a good man. He has written notes to Mets fans who are mourning the loss of a loved one. He stopped Spring Training practice so a young heart transplant survivor could meet his idols. Make no mistake, when you lose a human being of the caliber Collins is, your entire organization is worse off for it.
And yet, there comes a time when being a good person and past results need to be pushed aside. You need to focus on the job he’s doing and how he’s hurting the team.
This isn’t just about the Mets disappointing season thus far. You cannot pin a player underperforming on the manager alone even if Michael Conforto has regressed as the season progressed. Players certainly have to share in their responsibility as well. Furthermore, injuries have certainly played a part in this, and injuries cannot always be blamed on the manager.
It’s also not about Collins in-game management, which can be head-scratching at times. There are many factors at play to which we are not always privy. A player may feel under the weather or not ready to play in a game. Also, even if it may seem strange to people, a manager should be allowed to draw from 48 years of baseball experience to play a hunch every so often.
No, the reason why Collins needs to go is his decision making process and how it has hurt the team.
In April, there was his ill-advised decision to pitch Jim Henderson the day after he threw a career high 34 pitches. It was even worse when you consider Henderson is pitching in his first full season after having had his second shoulder surgery. Eventually, Henderson landed on the disabled list due to a shoulder impingement. Collins’ excuse for pitching Henderson was Henderson telling him before the game that “he felt great.”
That signals that what was Collins’ greatest strength is also his biggest weakness. He puts too much trust in his players leading Collins to sometimes play players when they shouldn’t be playing.
It was the big issue with Game 5 of the World Series. He let Matt Harvey talk his way back into the ninth inning despite Collins belief that the Mets should go to Jeurys Familia in that spot. That moment wasn’t about whether anyone thought it was the right move to let Harvey stay in the game. It was about Collins thinking it wasn’t he right move and his letting the player control the situtation.
Speaking of Familia, Collins recently overworked him as well. Over a six day stretch from July 22nd to July 27th, Familia had worked in four games throwing 76 pitches. He was tiring, and in his last appearance, Familia finally blew his first save. The following game the Mets got seven innings from Jacob deGrom, and the rest of the bullpen was fairly rested and ready to go. Instead, Collins went back to Familia who would blow his second save in a row. Collins’ excuse? He was going to sit Familia until Familia approached him pre-game and told him he was ready, willing, and able to pitch.
With Henderson, Harvey, and Familia, it appears that Collins is losing control to the players. That seemed all the more apparent during the Cespedes golfing drama. The Mets star player and key to their entire lineup had been hobbled for over a month due to a quad injury, and yet he continued to golf everyday. That was news to Collins who said, “I didn’t know he played golf until you guys brought it up. Had it been bothering him then, he would’ve said something about it, but not a word.” (Ryan Hatch, NJ.com).
It is not fair to blame Collins for Cespedes’ injury. It also isn’t fair to blame Collins for Cespedes playing golf. However, your star player is injured, and his injury is severely hampering your team. Doesn’t a manager have an obligation to speak with Cespedes knowing he is an avid golfer that played golf throughout the postseason last year despite having a shoulder injury?
On it’s own the Cespedes golf situation would be overblown as well as the aforementioned pitching decisions. If that was the only issue, you could argue Collins should be permitted to stay on as manager. However, his decision making this past week was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
On August 5th, the Mets lost a game 4-3. The fourth and decisive run was set-up by a J.D. Martinez double. Upon replay, it appeared that Matt Reynolds had held the tag on Martinez appeared to came off the bag. Reynolds looked into the dugout, but there would be no challenge. Now, that’s not necessarily Collins’ fault as he is relying upon the advise of the replay adviser. However, it was important to denote this when setting the stage for what happened the following night.
The Mets trailed the Tigers 7-6 in the top of the ninth. Jay Bruce started a two out rally in the top of of the ninth, and he would try to score from second off a Travis d’Arnaud single. Martinez would throw him out at the plate, and the Mets just walked off the field without challenging the play to see if there was a missed tag or if Jarrod Saltalamacchia was illegally blocking the plate. Why? As Collins said himself, “Because I didn’t think about it — that’s why. Plain and simple.” (Ken Davidoff, New York Post).
The Mets literally lose the game without that challenge. They lost the night before, in part, because they failed to challenge a play where it appeared Martinez was out at second. Even with all of that, Collins still didn’t at least try to challenge the play to try to get the tying run home.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was the matter of why Brandon Nimmo wasn’t pinch running for Bruce in that spot. Collins didn’t choose Nimmo as a pinch runner because he simply doesn’t know which one of his players is faster:
Collins said he didn't consider Nimmo for Bruce pinch running last night because for all he knows Bruce is faster.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) August 7, 2016
When you cede decision making to the players, when you fail to do everything possible to win games, and when you don’t fully know the capabilities of every player on your roster, it is time to go.
The Mets have not won back-t0-back games since over a month ago. At that time, they have gone from three back in the division and leading the race for the second Wild Card. They have seen Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes, and Jose Reyes go on the disabled list. Matt Harvey had season ending surgery. The Mets have seen themselves fall to nine back in the division.
Yet, the Mets are still in the thick of the Wild Card race.
After a much needed day off, the Mets begin a six game homestand against two of the worst teams in baseball in the Diamondbacks and the Padres. After that the Mets begin a West Coast trip starting with the Diamondbacks. These are nine extremely winnable games. If the Mets are a playoff team, they will steamroll through the Diamondbacks and the Padres and take possession of the second Wild Card spot.
Even better, they should have some help coming soon. Jim Henderson, Zack Wheeler, and Reyes are on rehab assignments in St. Lucie. Adding these health players along with a Michael Conforto, who hit an opposite field home run yesterday, gives you some optimism in what has mostly been a frustrating season for both him and the team.
All that anger and frustration can go away over the next nine games against two bad baseball teams.
Editor’s Note: this was also published on Mets Merized Online
Normally, you don’t fire someone until you have a viable replacement in place. It’s not the prudent course of action, and ultimately, you can make matters worse by acting off raw emotion to quickly fire someone. However, it’s time. The Mets need to move on from Terry Collins despite the lack of an obvious suitable replacement.
This isn’t said lightly. It was his ability to manage the clubhouse that kept the team together last summer until the Mets could make the trades to add Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, and Yoenis Cespedes. Despite your impressions of his in-game management, Collins was the manager of a team that went to the World Series last year.
More than that, Collins appears to be a good man. He has written notes to Mets fans who are mourning the loss of a loved one. He stopped Spring Training practice so a young heart transplant survivor could meet his idols. Make no mistake, when you lose a human being of the caliber Collins is, your entire organization is worse off for it.
And yet, there comes a time when being a good person and past results need to be pushed aside. You need to focus on the job he’s doing and how he’s hurting the team.
This isn’t just about the Mets disappointing season thus far. You cannot pin a player underperforming on the manager alone even if Michael Conforto has regressed as the season progressed. Players certainly have to share in their responsibility as well. Furthermore, injuries have certainly played a part in this, and injuries cannot always be blamed on the manager.
It’s also not about Collins in-game management, which can be head-scratching at times. There are many factors at play to which we are not always privy. A player may feel under the weather or not ready to play in a game. Also, even if it may seem strange to people, a manager should be allowed to draw from 48 years of baseball experience to play a hunch every so often.
No, the reason why Collins needs to go is his decision making process and how it has hurt the team.
In April, there was his ill-advised decision to pitch Jim Henderson the day after he threw a career high 34 pitches. It was even worse when you consider Henderson is pitching in his first full season after having had his second shoulder surgery. Eventually, Henderson landed on the disabled list due to a shoulder impingement. Collins’ excuse for pitching Henderson was Henderson telling him before the game that “he felt great.”
That signals that what was Collins’ greatest strength is also his biggest weakness. He puts too much trust in his players leading Collins to sometimes play players when they shouldn’t be playing.
It was the big issue with Game 5 of the World Series. He let Matt Harvey talk his way back into the ninth inning despite Collins belief that the Mets should go to Jeurys Familia in that spot. That moment wasn’t about whether anyone thought it was the right move to let Harvey stay in the game. It was about Collins thinking it wasn’t he right move and his letting the player control the situtation.
Speaking of Familia, Collins recently overworked him as well. Over a six day stretch from July 22nd to July 27th, Familia had worked in four games throwing 76 pitches. He was tiring, and in his last appearance, Familia finally blew his first save. The following game the Mets got seven innings from Jacob deGrom, and the rest of the bullpen was fairly rested and ready to go. Instead, Collins went back to Familia who would blow his second save in a row. Collins’ excuse? He was going to sit Familia until Familia approached him pre-game and told him he was ready, willing, and able to pitch.
With Henderson, Harvey, and Familia, it appears that Collins is losing control to the players. That seemed all the more apparent during the Cespedes golfing drama. The Mets star player and key to their entire lineup had been hobbled for over a month due to a quad injury, and yet he continued to golf everyday. That was news to Collins who said, “I didn’t know he played golf until you guys brought it up. Had it been bothering him then, he would’ve said something about it, but not a word.” (Ryan Hatch, NJ.com).
It is not fair to blame Collins for Cespedes’ injury. It also isn’t fair to blame Collins for Cespedes playing golf. However, your star player is injured, and his injury is severely hampering your team. Doesn’t a manager have an obligation to speak with Cespedes knowing he is an avid golfer that played golf throughout the postseason last year despite having a shoulder injury?
On it’s own the Cespedes golf situation would be overblown as well as the aforementioned pitching decisions. If that was the only issue, you could argue Collins should be permitted to stay on as manager. However, his decision making this past week was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
On August 5th, the Mets lost a game 4-3. The fourth and decisive run was set-up by a J.D. Martinez double. Upon replay, it appeared that Matt Reynolds had held the tag on Martinez appeared to came off the bag. Reynolds looked into the dugout, but there would be no challenge. Now, that’s not necessarily Collins’ fault as he is relying upon the advise of the replay adviser. However, it was important to denote this when setting the stage for what happened the following night.
The Mets trailed the Tigers 7-6 in the top of the ninth. Jay Bruce started a two out rally in the top of of the ninth, and he would try to score from second off a Travis d’Arnaud single. Martinez would throw him out at the plate, and the Mets just walked off the field without challenging the play to see if there was a missed tag or if Jarrod Saltalamacchia was illegally blocking the plate. Why? As Collins said himself, “Because I didn’t think about it — that’s why. Plain and simple.” (Ken Davidoff, New York Post).
The Mets literally lose the game without that challenge. They lost the night before, in part, because they failed to challenge a play where it appeared Martinez was out at second. Even with all of that, Collins still didn’t at least try to challenge the play to try to get the tying run home.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was the matter of why Brandon Nimmo wasn’t pinch running for Bruce in that spot. Collins didn’t choose Nimmo as a pinch runner because he simply doesn’t know which one of his players is faster:
Collins said he didn't consider Nimmo for Bruce pinch running last night because for all he knows Bruce is faster.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) August 7, 2016
When you cede decision making to the players, when you fail to do everything possible to win games, and when you don’t fully know the capabilities of every player on your roster, it is time to go.
In the movie, A Time to Kill, an all white jury in the deep South was set to convict Carl Lee Hailey, a black man, until his young white lawyer, Jake Brigance, stood before the jury of his peers and gave the closing argument of a lifetime:
What he did was absolutely brilliant. He took the same exact story and presented it to the jury exactly how it happened to a group of people that know what happened. The only thing he changed was the person. Instead of it being Carl Lee Hailey’s daughter, it was a little girl that could very well be close to them. Ultimately, that is what made the story hit home; that was what made them change their opinion.
Overall, the “A Time to Kill Test” is a good test to use whenever passing judgment on anything including how you feel about a player in a particular situation.
If you do not think it was a big deal that Yoenis Cespedes was playing golf with an injured quad, ask yourself would your opinion have changed if that was Matt Harvey? If you had a problem with Cespedes playing golf, would you have had the same opinion if you discovered David Wright was the one playing golf or taking part in any other activity that would have hampered his injury? Would it even matter if Jose Reyes or Asdrubal Cabrera were taking part in recreational activities that could have possibly had an effect on their ability to get back on the field from their perspective injuries? Essentially, no matter what the situation, choose another player, preferably one on the other end of the spectrum, and see if your opinion would change.
Overall, from looking at things from that perspective, it would be fair to say Cespedes shouldn’t have been playing golf while he was injured as it could have prevented him from getting back on the field. It would be fair to say his playing golf was ill advised because the possibility remained that he could have exacerbated the injury.
Sure, it is possible that your perspective may change if it was Harvey or Wright in the same situation, but that’s the issue. If it was the same situation, your opinion on the matter shouldn’t change.
Yesterday, Yoenis Cespedes began his day with a round of golf with Kevin Millar . . .
He got me this am @ynscspds #BoyClub #Millar/Cespedes #Rematch ⛳️⛳️⛳️⛳️⛳️ pic.twitter.com/bI5epD1Job
— Kevin Millar (@KMillar15) August 3, 2016
. . . and he ended the day on the disabled list.
By all reports, Cespedes has been playing golf each and every day since he’s been injured.
Cespedes’ injury was painful enough to prevent him from flying out and participating in the All Star Game. It was so bad he told the Mets he could no longer play center field. It was so painful he would miss games. Overall, his quad injury would affect his ability to play baseball, but he would not let it interfere with him playing golf each and every day.
Did the Mets botch this? Sure, they always mishandle injuries. It’s why they talked Steven Matz out of getting surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow. They also talked Juan Lagares out of surgery initially. The solution for Matt Harvey was him roughing it out without getting a full examination. They wouldn’t put a hobbled Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera immediately on the disabled list. There are more injuries they’ve mismanaged both this year and in the entire Ray Ramirez Error, sorry Era.
The Cespedes situation is yet another example of the Mets mismanaging injuries. They could’ve out him on the disabled list at the All Star Break to minimize the amount of games he would miss. They could’ve told him not to play golf.
However, they shouldn’t have to tell a 30 year old man making $27.5 million to rest his legs so he could return to the field as soon as possible. They shouldn’t have to tell him not to let down his teammates in the middle of a pennant race so he could hang out with Kevin Millar on the golf course. No, this is something Cespedes should just no. He either didn’t know, or he knew it and didn’t care.
Cespedes showed a complete lack of self awareness saying he needed to stop playing for 10 days to get healthy:
YC: “I think the best option is just rest, 10 days or so. If I continue playing hurt, I’m never going to recover.”
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) August 4, 2016
It wasn’t clear from that statement if he meant golf or baseball. Given his actions over the past month, he probably meant baseball.
Yes, the Mets mismanaged this injury like they mismanage all of their injuries. However, Cespedes prioritized his golf game over the game he is paid to play. Hopefully, Cespedes will refrain from playing golf these next 15 days to let him get back on the field.
After a month of golf and his sporadic play, it’s difficult to be optimistic that Cespedes will now treat this injury seriously and put baseball first.