Last night, Jose Reyes took a swing in the second inning and re-aggravated his oblique muscle. He has been listed as day-day if you can believe that. He admits that he was never 100% since Puerto Rico. He will not resume baseball activities until he is ”pain free”. Couldn’t we have avoided this?
This is the last news the Mets needed and might very well put a nail in the 2010 season.
All we heard from the Mets these past two months is a the word run. “one good run and we can get back in this thing” I heard this from Jerry Manuel and well as David Wright-in so many words. But hey, we are literally one good run from really getting back in this thing-right? Let’s say the Mets rattled of wins in the next 10 to 12 games, they might very well get back in the Wild Card race. I not drinking the Kool Aid am I? Ok maybe a sip or two but I’m a Mets fan, we depend and live on the fantasy dream.
But last night might have ended that fantasy dream. With Reyes out, the Mets have lost not only that Spark plug in the dugout but a key component in the Offense, as meek as that has been. But now wait a moment, has Reyes been the same since he hurt himself in Puerto Rico? Has Reyes completely returned to form since he first hurt himself? Things are starting to make sense here. I get it now, no wonder where part of the Offense went! Reyes has been nursing this the whole time! He’s never been 100% and now he’s out. Well, there goes your run, there goes your playoff hunt, there goes the Season yet again. Why did this happen?
I believe that this all could’ve been avoided if the Mets took into account not just the injury to Reyes but the impact it would have on the team if he were injured for an extensive period of time. But then again, why didn’t they learn this from last year after they tried to bring back Reyes after a Calf injury. What went wrong this time?
So in reality it’s not injury prevention nor injury recover but injury impact-and this is what the Mets must consider when Jose Reyes or any other player gets hurt. This and the fact that they just repeated the same mistake they made last year. That mistake might be the one factor that gets who ever made that decision fired.
How did the Mets come to this again? See, I think the problem is two fold. One, they think the player can play through the injury and two they actually believe the player when he tells him he could play through the injury.
That must change when it comes down to Jose Reyes and it must be the Mets who must mature in this. An injury must be assessed to how it affects the future of the athlete as well as the impact it might have on the team. This is not brain surgery, it simple is learning when an athlete is thinking and when there not and let’s face it, a lot of players simply don’t think-especially when it comes down to their own injuries. Perhaps they think they can heal faster and better than the rest of us, they are, of course, dead wrong.
But some of them do and let me explain by using Tiger Woods (the golf player not the player). Yesterday Tiger shot a 65 and is currently in the hunt to win another golf tournament. Let’s say today on the 5th hole he hurts himself. There are two questions he immediately asks himself, 1- can I still play and 2- can I still play and win. If he can answer both questions with a yes, we see him on the 6th hole limping around(remember his knee injury), if not he heads for the Clubhouse and orders a Bloody Mary. The one thing that Tiger realizes is that there are other tournaments to win and that if he plays hurt, there is a possibility that he could not only not win the tournament he is in but also take himself out of future ones because of injury. He has to be smart and think about the future and how his injury can affect that.
The Case of Reyes is not a unique one at all, as a matter of fact, Shane Victorino had the same injury and after a stint on the DL, has returned to the field. The problem with Reyes is simple, he played when he knew he was hurt and not only hurt himself more, but also hurt the team as well- is he to blame? Yes and No. Yes because he insisted on trying to play and no because he always wants to play. There’s nothing wrong with always wanting to play but when your hurt you must consider the consequences if you play poorly. Athletes by nature always want to play. It is the job of the coach to either listen to him or not. So You know who’s the blame? Anyone who listened to Jose and insisted on resting a couple of days. Whether that was Omar or Jerry or anyone else for that matter, they forgot how important Reyes is and mortgaged the future, or in our case, September.
When Reyes hurt himself way back before the All-Star, he should have been put on the DL. In all essence, Jose got hurt at the perfect time-about 14 days before the All-Star Break. If he had been put on the DL, Reyes would have gotten about a good 20 days off and possibly recovered. In a Perfect World this all would have happened right? But instead the Mets or whoever decided this, made Reyes rest about 5 games and attempted to play again, and what did they discover….. he still couldn’t play! So Reyes missed the All-Star Game and a couple of games following and declared himself healthy( or at least someone did and he began playing games again….secretly hurt)
The Perfect Storm to start the downfall of the Season for now you have an injured Reyes playing with a recovering Beltran hitting Clean-up and Castillo who couldn’t hit even when he was healthy and thus the Offensive woes began and the Mets began the Great Sink to the bottom of the Division.
The Mets must learn when to listen to players and when to ignore them. Reyes never should have been allowed to play after he hurt himself the first time. He’s a human( as I wrote when he first hurt himself) and cannot heal in 5 days-despite what he says.
Now I know that Reyes has a history here of being hurt and also, at one point, being called “soft” for not trying to play through injuries. But here is my question to him, if he knew he was hurt so bad why continue when everyone saw how poor his performance was? Jose knew he was hurt and should have trusted his instincts, but the problem here might be that his instincts are tainted because of what happened last year and the criticism that he received for not playing.
He wasn’t thinking and nobody around him was either.
So after last night, all the critics who said Reyes was “soft” have to keep their mouths shut. Ha Ha, Reyes might be thinking, call me soft now after I’ve been playing all this time hurt. But now that the critics have been silenced so have the Mets. Now that Reyes may not play until next year and honestly why should they take a chance on him playing games if he’s hurt, the Mets will surly suffer another meaningless September without him.
19 comments
Dirtysanchez
8/27/2010-9:36am at 9:36 am (UTC -4)
good piece…this all could have been avoided if they put him on the DL before the ASB. I know there is a line between babying a player and legit precaution but this is a guy who in a few weeks will most likely ink a contract for the next 5 years. He is also a player that has a injury history. I dont know whos call it was but they are a step too late as usual.
njstuckintx
8/27/2010-9:48am at 9:48 am (UTC -4)
I just saw the length of this article and thought kingman wrote it.
Honestly, shut him down and move feliciano and whoever else on the waiver wire.
And stop it with this Frenchy stuff. I mean, seriously, move him on the waiver wire for anything, just to not have the option to start him in the lineup.
stickguy
8/27/2010-9:56am at 9:56 am (UTC -4)
well, pretty much everyone was screaming to put him n the DL at the time. I think Pagan actually screwed him up, the way he recovered and played so quickly. But reyes does play SS and agressivly, so need to consider that too.
but please, stop with the “fragile’ and “injury prone” crap. It is not just you, but all over recently (wet tissue paper, etc.)
He is not. Very early on, he had hammy issues (in his teens) which he outgrew/overcame. He then proceded to play 150+ games for 4 straight years (161, 153, 160, 159). At short, while stealing a ton of bases. very demanding stuff.
Forget fragile. The guy is a freaking iron man.
Yeah, lst year he had a calf/hammy tendon injury (and we will never know how much worse that was due to gross incompetence medically). So, shat happens.
And I don’t think the thyroid issue makes him fragile. so that just leaves the oblique. Lots of those this eyar, and really just bad timing/luck.
but the guy is not Nick Johnson.
metsfan4decades
8/27/2010-10:17am at 10:17 am (UTC -4)
Agree with everything here.
I too am tired of reading that Reyes is injury prone. That’s just hogwash.
I’m tired of reading he’s soft. In fact, reading and listening to interviews on Reyes since last night, it sounds like it’s obvious this never healed partly because Reyes didn’t want to go on the DL and kept saying he could play, and the Mets went right along with that.
NOW they’re adamant that Reyes will not play until he’s pain free. Reading between the lines, I hope we’re not going to be reading soon that ‘Reyes is a liar when it comes to his health’.
Jeeze, what are we paying these doctors and trainers for anyway?
Before this year, Pagan had a history of not playing a full year either without some injury or other. So far this year, he’s avoided the DL, had the one oblique injury that obviously either healed quicker than Reyes’ and/or was milder to begin with. It’s funny that I don’t hear anyone saying this year, ‘Pagan’s injury prone….best to sell high’….
Dirtysanchez
8/27/2010-10:28am at 10:28 am (UTC -4)
I think its a stretch to call him iron man but you cannot deny the guy has an injury history…injury prone is a subjective term. Reyes has been in the league since 2003 and out of those seasons he had only 4 seasons where he played over 150 games. Whatever you want to call it, i dont think he is an iron man.
stickguy
8/27/2010-10:47am at 10:47 am (UTC -4)
a SS that steals 60+ bases a year, averaging 155+ games for 4 years, is an iron man these days. And he obviously is not soft, because for sure he had to play through plenty of aches, pains and hurts.
he tore a tendon last year, and pulled a muscle this year. totall unrelated. and not chronic or IMO making him fragile or injury prone.
metsfan4decades
8/27/2010-10:21am at 10:21 am (UTC -4)
Just put him on the DL already. He should have been on the DL last time, especially after several days went by and it was obvious it wasn’t healing quickly.
I believe those that don’t want him on the DL are those that probably think we’re still in this race. If we were realistically (not mathematically) still in this race, that would be different conversation.
stickguy
8/27/2010-10:45am at 10:45 am (UTC -4)
the mets are 7.5 game out of the WC (I think, I know the Marlins are 6). Behind about 7 teams.
with what, 36 games to play, the odds of the Mets making the playoffs are probably lower than the phils had of catching the mets in 2007 when they were 7 out with 17 to go.
It is not just the games. It is the large number of teams between them.
yeah, we all know that a team can get hot (phils, rockies) in spetember and make a run. And we know a 1st place team can fold like a cheap suit. But the odds of 5 teams all having massive collapses at the same time? Not good.
oleosmirf
8/27/2010-10:50am at 10:50 am (UTC -4)
well this would explain the lack of SB since then although considering Justin Turner is likely out for the season, we don’t have a single middle infielder on the 40 man roster to replace him so the chances of Jose going on the DL is slim to none.
metsfan4decades
8/27/2010-11:48am at 11:48 am (UTC -4)
The injury problem across MLB, both in the majors and minors this past decade is mind boggling.
Someone needs to look at the overall picture on this. Whatever they’re all doing, however they’re all training, conditioning, etc., it’s either too much, too little, or just not right.
I get the older players but it just seems more prevalent with younger players these days as well.
Either that, or those little green pills masked plenty of ‘hurts’ that players would routinely play through, but no longer can……
metsfan4decades
8/27/2010-11:50am at 11:50 am (UTC -4)
By the way…I just noticed the Real Dirty Audio widget to the right. Very nice….thanks.
metsfan4decades
8/27/2010-11:50am at 11:50 am (UTC -4)
Shoot…meant to the left…
GravediggerHebner
8/27/2010-11:52am at 11:52 am (UTC -4)
The only real lesson I can see being learned from this situation is one that may be learned by Jose Reyes and that is to be as honest as possible about your condition with the medical staff.
I never heard anything about him still being in pain from Puerto Rico until yesterday. As best as I can tell he told the Mets he was fine and medical tests supported that. Hopefully he’s learned to be honest about what’s bothering him. Only then can he receive the most appropriate care/treatment.
oleosmirf
8/27/2010-12:03pm at 12:03 pm (UTC -4)
well im assuming that the medical staff has decided that he can’t seriously injure himself by playing through the injury so the Mets would rather have Reyes at 80% than Castillo and Tejada.
he’ll have plenty of time to rest the oblique from October till February so as long as he doesn’t tear anything, no reason for him to heal now.
metsfan4decades
8/27/2010-12:47pm at 12:47 pm (UTC -4)
They did talk about Reyes sometime last week…that he was playing with his side all tapped up. He said that was keeping that muscle from stretching too much and caused less pain that way.
He went on to say he tried to slide feet first but he just can’t do it. And sliding head first with his arms stretched over his head was causing him to really feel that injury. With it tapped, he said he felt hardly any pain.
That was the first hint I heard that the oblique strain wasn’t fully healed.
stickguy
8/27/2010-12:04pm at 12:04 pm (UTC -4)
I think players should do less weight lifting, and more yoga. Flexibility and conditioning are more important than building up giant upper bodies.
oh, and work on core strenngthening too. legs and trunks. Aim to look like Tom seaver or Nolan ryan. Massivley strong core and lower bodies, but not Mr. universe up top!
Dirtysanchez
8/27/2010-12:10pm at 12:10 pm (UTC -4)
depends on the need of the player/position i think but your right. They should encourage more flexibility exercises in their routines…could help with endurance over 162 games.
njstuckintx
8/27/2010-1:15pm at 1:15 pm (UTC -4)
At least we’ll have Reyes next year, thyroid permitting. The Nats are all jumping off of bridges, curbs, ledges, what ever.
oleosmirf
8/27/2010-1:20pm at 1:20 pm (UTC -4)
on the bright side, we dont have to face him next season…