The New York Mets have finally come up with a solution to their injury problems: simply don’t talk about them.
The New York Mets are besieged by injuries again here in 2017 and it has cut into the fabric of the team to the point where they are in danger of falling out of contention. But, unlike in years past, they’ve come up with a foolproof way of dealing with them.
Just pretend they don’t exist.
Manager Terry Collins has been told not to comment on injuries until further notice.
“No disrespect. I’m not going to get into the injury stuff,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I’m not at liberty to discuss any injury situation”
The decision was an organizational one, GM Sandy Anderson said Thursday in an effort to change the narrative of a season that is going south in a hurry.
“Injuries are injuries,” Alderson said. “They’re unpredictable, in terms of their severity and scope and amount of time of recovery. And in the past what we’ve attempted to do is to give the most current information…and now what we’re trying to do is provide information. But we think less is more.”’
And who can blame either one of these guys for trying to avoid talking about injuries. The Mets are missing the three players they could least afford to have hurt: ace starter Noah Syndergaard, slugger Yoenis Cespedes and closer Jeurys Familia.
Syndergaard bulked himself up in the offseason, adding muscle to his frame, and is now paying the price as he tore a lat last month and will be out until at least July. Given the Mets’ history of injuries, that’s a loose date. Who knows when we’ll see him again.
Cespedes has a hamstring issue and has been out since April 28. He is said to be close to returning but, again, we have to see it to believe it. Familia was felled by an aneurysm in his throwing shoulder and is likely lost for the season.
Throw in the elbow injuries to starters Steven Matz and Seth Lugo and the eternally injured David Wright and the Mets are missing a solid swath of might and depth. To add insult to injury, their starting pitching has underperformed, putting a great strain on their already suspect bullpen. Mix all of these factors up in your cauldron and stir and you have a .422 ball club.
Anderson and Collins are not young men. Alderson is closing in on 70 and Collins will be 68 on Saturday. Not to be accused of ageism, but do they really need this aggravation this late in their careers?
No. So, in order to survive this latest rash of bad luck, bad baseball and bad publicity, it’s better to suppress the truth and go about your business. I don’t see this as a censorship issue but rather an exercise in self-preservation.
Collins, in addition to his injury woes, has been highly criticized for some of his managerial moves and Alderson could be considering making a change. But making that change midseason might not the best way to go. It won’t change anything. It won’t heal muscles and bones any faster.
Shhhh….let’s stop this talk before somebody else gets hurt….
