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P ORT ST. LUCIE — The dreaded injury list returned to Mets camp Sunday. After the Mets spent all winter harping on their improved medical system and the proactive preparation to limit injuries, the system is already getting tested early in spring training. Dominic Smith will go for an MRI on his right quad Monday after tweaking it in Saturday’s game, his first of spring. The first base prospect tweaked the quad going first to third and felt it again when he scored in the Mets’ 10-5 loss to the Cardinals.
“I was anticipating me scoring from first. Got a good jump. Trying to score, trying to play hard and it tightened up on me,” Smith said. “And we thought the smartest decision was to come out, to make sure it doesn’t flare up or get any worse.”
Sunday, Smith said he felt better, but the Mets were being cautious.
He joined an injury list emailed to reporters that included Jay Bruce (plantar fasciitis), Juan Lagares (tight left hamstring) and Tim Tebow (sprained left ankle).
Injuries derailed the last two Mets seasons and historically have been a problem for the franchise. Mickey Callaway, in his first year as a manager, did not seem worried Sunday that they were already dealing with injuries.
“It would bother me if we hadn’t taken precautionary measures to try and prevent some of these things,” Callaway said. “Injuries are going to happen, no matter what you do. As long as we’re doing the right things and trying to prevent them, then it’s not going to bother you as much.”
Obviously there is concern about Smith’s injury because they are sending him to get the MRI. Bruce dismissed the plantar fasciitis as a “non-issue,” and is something he has dealt with since last year when he was traded to Cleveland. He said he ran the bases fine Sunday in drills and will play Tuesday as a designated hitter.
Lagares is listed as “dayto-day,” and Callaway indicated it would not be long before he was in the lineup. He was not on the travel list for today’s game in West Palm Beach against the Astros. Tebow is also day-to-day after injuring the ankle by slipping on a sprinkler head in the outfield. A good sign was that Bruce, Lagares and Tebow were all out on the fields doing drills on Sunday. Smith, however, was not out on the field. A disappointing start for him, especially considering he was benched for the first game after being late for a team meeting.
“I’d be lying to say it isn’t at the end of the day I have emotions and feelings,” Smith said. “So, it definitely sucks, but it’s a part of the game, it’s something I am going to make sure I am going to do my best to get out there as quickly as I can, help my team win ballgames.”
After years of injury misfortune and misinformation, the Mets are trying to change a culture and reputation. Last season, they lost the sixth-most games to injury in MLB and the third-most WAR (8.49) affected by injuries, according to mangameslost.com. It wasn’t just 2017 that was torpedoed by injuries, either; the Mets had the second-most impact by injuries on their team from 2010-17, according to the website that tracks injury impact on professional sports.
The Mets believed that investing in the medical staff and changing the way they handled injuries would have as much T impact as any offseason signing they could make. hey fired longtime head trainer Ray Ramirez and hired a director of performance and sports science to work with player on everything from sleep to prevention and recovery. They talked a lot about communicating with players during their offseason workouts, monitoring their workouts to try and get them into spring training healthy. Here, the Mets have implemented more technology this spring, having players step on a scale every day, but they monitor their hydration level before they can even step on the field. The need to prevent injuries this season is universally understood throughout the organization. “I hope we stay healthy this year. We have a really good team,” Asdrubal Cabrera said. “If we stay healthy we can be in the playoffs this year.”
Now we’ll see if the Mets’ investments and changes really pay off.