FUNNY HOW?!
For Mets, Cespedes’ injury is no joking matter
PORT ST. LUCIE — Yoenis Cespedes couldn’t help himself. After an obvious question about his first atbats since having a cortisone shot in his right wrist, the Mets slugger joked that he was done. “I’m not going to be able to play anymore, ever,” he told the Mets translator, trying to keep a straight face. Then he broke into a giant grin, laughed at the look on the faces of the reporters and said: “I am fine.”
Obviously, the outfielder was feeling good Saturday, kidding around with teammates and reporters. He quickly added that he will be ready for Opening Day in just 12 days.
“I am fine, now I am fine,” Cespedes said. “I will get some at-bats on a minor league field (Sunday) because the team is away. I will be ready when they come back again.”
Cespedes took six at-bats in an intrasquad minor league game on the backfields of the Mets spring training complex, going 1-for-6 against minor league pitchers, including the Mets’ 2017 first-round draft pick David Peterson. He said he felt nothing in his wrist.
A Mets source said they were “hopeful” that Cespedes would be back in the Mets spring training lineup on Monday and that is what Cespedes indicated Saturday.
The 32-year-old, who also had a sore shoulder earlier this spring, said he is confident that if he returns to the lineup Monday he will have enough at-bats to be ready for Opening Day. “I will be fine,” Cespedes said. But this is no joking matter for the Mets, who have harped on improving the health of their players all winter.
After signing Cespedes to a four-year, $110 million deal before last season, he missed 81 games with injuries to both hamstrings. While his wasn’t the only injury that torpedoed the 2017 season, it was certainly a huge hole in the lineup.
Last season, they were sixth in the league in games missed by players due to injury, according to mangameslost.com. It wasn’t just 2017 either; the Mets had the second-most impact by injuries on their team from 2010-17, according to the website, which tracks these statistics.
The Mets believed that investing in the medical staff and changing the way they handled injuries would have as much impact as any offseason signing they could make. They fired long-time head trainer Ray Ramirez and hired a director of performance and sports science to work with players on everything from sleep to prevention and recovery. They talked a lot about communicating with players during their offseason workouts and monitoring their workouts to try to get them into spring training healthy.
They have implemented more technology this spring. They have players report their sleep patterns and state of mind. Players step on a scale every day and are monitoring their hydration level before they can even get on the field.
And Cespedes personally committed himself this winter to trying to stay healthy.
Accepting that he is getting older and he needed to change his winter workouts, Cespedes added more running to his offseason training, cut back on the heavy weight lifting and added yoga.
But now, the Mets and Cespedes have to translate all that preparation into keeping him on the field.