CES INJURY SHOCK
BREAKS ANKLE AT FLA. RANCH
As a congested room of reporters waited for Brodie Van Wagenen to address Mickey Callaway’s job security, the general manager instead opened his press conference Monday with shocking news.
Yoenis Cespedes suffered an accident on his ranch ‘La Potencia’ in Port St. Lucie on Saturday night that led to multiple fractures in his right foot and ankle. Cespedes was in New York on Monday at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he was being evaluated.
“From what the player communicated to us, he was on his ranch and he had a violent fall in which he stepped in a hole and twisted his leg and foot into a difficult position,” Van Wagenen said.
The Mets do not have more information on the official prognosis and his future at this time. Van Wagenen left the Mets’ series in Miami on Sunday to visit with Cespedes in Port St. Lucie.
“Our focus currently is to try to get him the best medical care and hopefully get a better idea of what it means for his future both in 2019 and beyond,” Van Wagenen said.
Cespedes, 33, began the season on the injured list to recover from double-heel surgery and remove calcification in his bone spurs. Prior to Saturday’s accident, the outfielder had avoided setbacks in his recovery from plantar fasciitis — an injury that plagued him since the early months of last season.
Due to his initial progress, Cespedes had previously remained a possibility to return to the big leagues in the second half of this season. Following the new fractures to his right ankle, the timeline for Cespedes’ recovery is unclear. But the slugger is now expected to be unavailable this year.
Since the accident occurred on Cespedes’ ranch, Van Wagenen was asked if the outfielder fell off one the many horses on his property. Though the GM said a horse was not involved, further clarification on the accident was not given.
“It was not a fall off the horse,” Van Wagenen said. “It was a non-baseball-related activity.”
The Mets signed Cespedes through the 2020 season for $110 million over four years. The slugger was acquired from the Tigers right up to the last minute of the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline in 2015. He instantly became a hero for the Mets, helping lead the team to the World Series with 17 home runs and 44 RBI over 57 regular-season games.
Since Cespedes’ contract is insured, the Mets may actually save money if the outfielder is to miss the rest of the season.
“We haven’t even thought about implications to a contract,” Van Wagenen said. “Our focus right now is on the player’s health and trying to get the right answers on what procedures need to be done, if any, and what the prognosis will be coming out of this.”
Cespedes was last seen lightly jogging at Marlins Park on Friday before the Mets series opener in Miami. As had
been the case this season, Cespedes would make the trip to Miami to visit the team and connect with the clubhouse due to its close proximity to their minor league facility in Port St. Lucie. “We’ve tried not to put a timeline on Ces’ rehab from the previous surgeries,” Van Wagenen said. “He was making progress as many of you saw down in Miami but he was still a number of thresholds away before he was going to be able to return to activity. It’s hard to speculate on what that means for going forward at this point.”