Monday Mets Minutes: Here Is The DL Fix

How many games have the Mets’ eight starters actually played in together this year?  It’s just one injury after another. In fact, except for the two youngsters on the team (Wright and Reyes), all the other starting position players have spent time on the disabled list, most recently Paul LoDuca.

How can a team expect to function when everyone is hurt?  Forget about the starters, it trickles down to the backups as well. The same day that LoDuca goes on the DL, Ramon Castro suffers a back injury. Though that is only expected to be day to day, remember what happened to our outfield?  Alou went down, then Green. Then Endy Chavez, filling in, got hurt.  Not long after that, Carlos Gomez, also filling in, suffered injury. Delgado had his turn. Last week it was Beltran. Valentin twice this year, which may have cost him his job. The pitching staff didn’t get off that easy. Pedro is still rehabbing, so is Duaner Sanchez. Perez and Sosa were both down at the same time. Mota served a 50-game suspension for using illegal performance enhancers, but that’s a whole other blog!

So I have come up with the “DL FIX”.  New rules for MLB and the disabled list. Of course, this is strictly opinionated, and there is no inclination whatsoever that this may actually happen. Some of you may call me silly, while others may consider me clever.  In either case, here goes:

Teams now have the option of placing a player on the 7-day DL. That’s right, seven days.  This comes in handy for minor injuries or even illnesses, such as the flu.  It prevents a player from taking up a spot on the active roster when he is unable to play, yet may not need to be out of action for over two weeks.  When the player is eligible to be reactivated, if he is not ready, then he must then go on, at least, the 15-day DL, because obviously the injury was more serious then originally anticipated.  A player cannot go on the 7-day DL for the same injury twice, unless at least 30 days has passed since he was reactivated from that injury.  A player can only use the 7-day DL up to three times in a season, regardless of injury or time span.  After that he must revert back to traditional DL terms of 15 days or longer.

OK, OK. So I got carried away with crazy, fictional writing.  It was just a thought…