While I can only assume the story came from Adam Rubin’s desire to become the team’s trainer, the larger issue here is what bothers me most. In what universe should the New York Mets be upset that Jose Reyes is being cautious about his return?
Let’s get this straight: Jose Reyes, acting on information from Mets trainers/doctors, was told he had a minor injury, and repeatedly was sent out to try and return to action, only to have his injury aggravated. For those Mets sources who want to claim it is only in his head: either the injury wasn’t so severe to begin with, and he aggravated it by being sent out prematurely, or his injury was much worse at the start, and he was misdiagnosed. Nowhere in either of these scenarios is there room for Jose Reyes to be faking an injury, and in either case, his reluctance to push his return to a meaningless season on the advice of the people who advised him in either of these scenarios is completely understandable.
Ultimately, I do not have the medical information or expertise to make decisions on what is the best course of treatment for Jose Reyes. I do know, however, that his timetable has repeatedly changed, and that while engaging in activities obviously okayed by the Mets, he has repeatedly pushed back his return, and further injured himself. No medical expertise is needed to know that the Mets have mishandled Jose Reyes in a huge way this season. Unnamed sources within the organization need to stop complaining about Reyes at this point and instead take responsibility for a debacle with one of the team’s most important assets.
Repoz
Posted: August 28, 2009 at 11:01 PM |
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1. BringBackTimTeufel Posted: August 28, 2009 at 11:31 PM (#3308147)With his hamstrings, he's not going to be running anywhere.
I don't think this article is (primarily) about whether the training staff is awful. The mishandling of Reyes's injury, including possible misdiagnosis of the initial injury and attempts to push him too quickly to begin rehab and return to play, are a part of the story, but the bigger issue is the way some people in the organization are now responding to this. These unnamed people could, I suppose, include the trainers, but I tend to think not -- they are almost certainly FO types who ultimately take the heat for the way these decisions work out (or don't work out). Thinking more about covering their vulnerable asses instead of the interests of the organization -- which is to say whispering about Reyes's guts and durability and willingness to be tough and all that rather than admit there might be problems and confront them -- is typical corporate behavior, but it doesn't bode well for the long-term health of the organization.
This is yet another sign, among many, of the dysfunctionality that is the Mets' FO. It may also -- if some of the whispers about Reyes are from his teammates -- be a sign of other issues, namely (a) problems in the clubhouse and (b) the impact that this disastrous season has had on them all, and (c) possibly the extent to which those in the FO who've undermined Reyes have succeeded in doing so with his own teammates. In which case, great job by all concerned.
The money doesn't work out so maybe we'll take Castillo off your hands too.
AO
Well, look. No team in the history of baseball could have overcome long-term injuries (i.e., well more than half the season) in the same season to players of the quality of Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, Maine, and Putz, on top of somewhat shorter-term (but still fairly lengthy) injuries to Johan and Ollie, AND a "just in case you haven't had enough" really scary beaning of the franchise player, David Wright. Then some of the guys who were supposed to be bench players have gotten hurt, too, like Cora and Sheffield and Niese and Nieve.
Did the Mets have enough depth to contend in a year of normal injuries? I think they probably did. But that's not the real issue that this season has revealed. The real issues are basically two:
1) The nature of the organization -- whether the GM was Steve Phillips or Jim Duquette or Omar Minaya, the Wilpons have allowed a totally dysfunctional organization to thrive. There is no meaingful chain of command that works, and so climbers among the players (LoDuca, Franco, Leiter) try to get the ear of the owners and gain influence. Assistant GMs and other ambitious front-office types try to do the same (Goldis, Livesay, Bernazard). This undermines the GM, who may start out with the Wilpons confidence (as Omar did) or may start out already shaky (Duquette) -- but either way, they end up thinking he's the problem when in actuality they the problem. Their unwillingness to create a working organization in which people know and do their jobs is the problem. It creates messes like Tony Bernazard. It creates indecisiveness on key policies, like how to handle injuries and lesser (but not trivial) issues like when to tell Jerry Manuel to STFU about the manliness of his injured players. For years, we have focused -- obsessively about each of the GMs and (to a lesser degree) the managers -- but they are not really the issue. The organizational chaos imposed on them by the interfering Wilpons is the issue. At this point, by all accounts, that essentially means Jeff.
2) The Wilpons' financial situation. We'll see this off-season what is really going on, I think. Their actions on a range of issues will tell the story. The fact they were 30th in baseball in draft spending could be explained either by their money woes, or by the fact the Mets didn't have a # 1 pick. The fact they didn't try to bring in reinforcements to salvage the season could be explained by money, or by other reasons (they didn't have much to trade, and the season couldn't be saved anyway). Dumping Wagner for savings made all kinds of sense . . . but did they even try to get a better prospect from the Sox by offering to take some of the $$$? But this off-season, if the Mets don't take on payroll to replace the dollars they are losing (Wagner, Putz, Delgado, etc.), all the denials in the world won't convince anyone.
agreed, It's wrong to blame the front office for not having enough depth to cover the amount of serious injuries to starters that the Mets had to deal with. Projected starting shortstop 36 games played(potential all star), Projected starting firstbaseman 26 games(solid regular) projected centerfielder 62 games(all star player) David Wright has only missed 14 games. Not many teams can survive losing 4 all star level players and still compete regardless of depth. (not to mention the tons of other injuries to every other player)
among the first three I mentioned they missed 263 games out of 387, that is a huge hole to dig yourself out of. Imagine any other team in baseball losing three of it's four best players for that many games and see how well you think they would have done.
I do feel badly for you guys for that.
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