Alright, so this is a bit more abstract than just picking say, JJ Putz, but I’d rather go off on a pseudo rant about something that’s really been bothering me.
Not everything falls on the Mets’ medical staff, but some of the decisions made by this group have been nothing short of perplexing. This goes back to last year, after Ryan Church suffered his second concussion. What was that meeting like, anyway?
Met Official: Church looked pretty rattled after getting kneed in the head by Yunel Escobar, are you sure it’s safe to fly him out to Colorado to see if he bounces back?
Quack doctor: Of course it is! Who’s the doctor here, you or me?
Met Official: You, but–
Quack doctor: A-puh-puh! I’m the doctor, and I say post-concussion flight is absolutely safe, if not necessary. Now, where’s my money?
This year, it took longer than necessary to decide that Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes were to be put on the disabled list, and especially with the latter. When Reyes first went down, all we heard was that he was “day-to-day,” and that he’ll be reevaluated prior to each game. This went on for almost a week before he was back in the lineup, at which point Jose was still not 100% ready to go. Does it make sense to take that kind of risk with your star shortstop, whose game entirely depends on his legs? It did to the Mets, and while trying to beat out a throw to 1st base, the first time Reyes had to go all out, he came up lame and had to be put on the DL, where he should’ve been already. At first it was a calf problem, which then became tendinitis, which then became a hamstring tendon tear.
JJ Putz frustrated Met fans everywhere when he declared that he lost some miles per hour on his fastball from a lack of 8th inning adrenaline. He seems to have duped everyone, since the bone spur he had since last year has proven more problematic than he admitted to. Has Omar Minaya traded for damaged goods?
It frustrates me to hear as little information as possible whenever a major Met player gets hurt, while details slowly leak out that sound increasingly worse until the eventual disabled list trip finally comes. It’s what happened with Reyes, and it’s what happened with Putz. Of course, not all of the Mets’ injury problems have been aided by poor communication and perplexing medical decisions.
Carlos Beltran and John Maine were hit hard with stomach bugs, which kept them out of action. Ryan Church had a stint on the disabled list that thankfully ended yesterday. Angel Pagan is starting to prove that he can’t stay healthy. Oliver Perez, and by proxy Minaya, are either being protected from ridicule, or Ollie is in fact having injury problems. If you ask me, either one wouldn’t surprise me. Alex Cora went on the DL after hurting his thumb on a slide. Even Ramon Martinez went down with an injury. And weren’t people surmising that a SNY employee who travels with the team contracted swine flu? This is all making me dizzy…
Met maladies and the doctors who diagnose them, welcome to the dog house.
Get well soon, guys.
Pete Lappin (3)
