4
2012
Mets First Baseman Discusses Valley Fever Diagnosis With Reporters
An article by Former Writers
Ike Davis spoke with reporters this morning about his suspected valley fever diagnosis.
Here’s a quick summary:
- The specialist still thinks he has valley fever despite blood test being negative. Except in the most extreme cases, valley fever is not debilitating.
- Ike Davis says he feels great and does not have any symptoms of the disease which he could have contracted as long as a year ago.
- The doctors told him he could play and to avoid getting really, really fatigued. Davis added that valley fever is very common and 40 percent of people that live in Arizona get it in their lifetime.
- Davis has not toned down any of his workouts and if he feels very fatigued he will simply let Terry Collins know about, but reinforced that he feels great and that he doesn’t see anything coming from this in the future. He is not too concerned about it.
Original Post 3/3 8:00 PM
Marty Noble of MLB.com reports that it is likely Mets budding first baseman Ike Davis has likely contracted Valley Fever, although they have yet to get the results from the blood test.
Whether that statement will be applicable each day come April is an unknown that makes his manager and Davis himself squirm. Davis is not the picture of health. He has, in fact, contracted Valley or Desert Fever, a malady that can interfere with a season and even end a career.
His illness has set off no alarms in the Mets’ camp. Truth be told, the diagnosis is not a topic of public discussion or much private dialouge. But there is an awareness, and, behind that, a concern.
Murphy’s Law strikes again.
The most recent example of the possible severe effects of Valley Fever is Conor Jackson, who contracted the illness in 2009, lost 35 pounds, and hasn’t been the same player since.
With that said, I think the key in this article is that Ike says he feels no ill effects of the fever, if he even does have it. That is the key. The symptoms can be as severe as Jackson’s or as mild as next to nothing.
Terry Collins said that Scott Hairston and Mike Baxter would tried at first place in order to “be prepared” and that if Davis needs to miss any significant amount of time Lucas Duda would take over the first base duties.
As of right now it doesn’t sound too serious and I want to give Ike the benefit of the doubt and believe him when he says he feels fine, but plenty of times before the Mets have made it sound like a minor medical issue that turned out to be a major blow. I won’t be holding my breath on this one.
About the Author: Former Writers
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The blame Sandy posts start in 3, 2, 1…
Hopefully this is overblown, but let’s face it…he’ll probably miss the season.
Is that related to “Pennant Fever “? Surely no Mets wil have that this season.
so much for hairston though. He is already hurt.
so I guess we should expect Baxter to go down any day now.
Please pinch me and tell me i’m having a bad dream…..
Feel bad for Ike, here is a promising young, under control for many years, slugger, good fielding 1st baseman and after the fiasco from the ankle issue this comes up, sheesh!
Well I am believing that all will turn out well cause he will be big part of Wright having a better year than last with protection in the 4 hole.
Get well Ike, Mets and us fans need your steadiness at 1st base.
Considering the lack of OF alternatives the team has, have to hope Havens is healthy and mashing, so Murph can slide over to first. I hate that I have to even think these thoughts…
I’d have to think if Ike misses time at the beginning of the year Captain Kirk would have a legitimate shot to win the right field job with Duda moving to first
This is CRAZY!!! What next: B. Nimmo contracts the Plague, Harvey Small Pox, Familia gets Scurvy and Wheeler contracts Polio? But everyone else is the picture of health. This is getting to the point of ridiculous!
Let’s not get too worked up about this…the reports of it ending his career or even effecting his season and worst case scenario and don’t seem very likely seeing that he not even showing symptoms. It’s a very common disease in the SW and usually very treatable and many times people will have it and never show any effects. It’s a simple Fungi infection in the lungs that can be treated with medication.
I know this is the Mets, but lets wait until it actually is bad before we start running for our spot on the bridge ledge…
And how does the Ike situation impact upon your 77-85 season record projection? Are we approaching 62-100 yet? Watch Santana closely! Any problem there and 62-100 gets even closer. Has anyone figured out who steps in if Santana goes down?
I spend more time pulling you guys back from the ledge…Ed Ryan of Mets Fever offers an excellent report. He offers an analogy to Lyme’s Disease that is very appropriate.
My prayers are with Ike & they’re working – he went 2-for-2 yesterday. I think it’s a situation that Sandy Alderson & Terry Collins will deal with effectively. Collins was excellent at utilizing his entire roster last season as he coped with a roster littered with players on the DL.
From a long term perspective,former Met and Phillie Rico Brogna comes to mind. A talented fielding and hitting first baseman with a disease that he overcame to have a number of very good years with the Phillies. The point is to support Ike through this, give him the rest he needs and exercise patience as he recovers long term.
God forbid, but if Ike becomes unavailable the Mets have a series of options, whether it’s to slide Murphy to first and insert Turner or bring up Havens or Valdespin. Or moving Duda to 1st base and promoting Capt. Kirk to right field. Many options…
All I know is that the most recent news on Ike Davis is that he went 2-for-2 yesterday. That’s what I know…
His health is more important than a baseball game. Get well so you can hit those monster 400 plus home runs.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/39238/ike-discusses-valley-fever
Here are quotes from Ike himself.
And the Ike era comes to a close before it began! Move Murphy to 1B where he should be! If Ike recovers (which is doubtful as the Mets ALWAYS lie about injuries) then he can play but the team needs to fix the lineup now instead of doing the typical Mets thing and expecting miracles
Panic over nothing much?
Dos it never end with this team???
Honestly, if it wasn’t to bad luck they’d have none at all.
No one to blame, nothing that could have been helped, no way to prevent this.
Ike, Wright, Hairston.
Only question is who’s next?
Snake bitten is beginning to be an understatement.
Is there anyway we can hang this one on Omar too? I wonder?
no Maniac,
The term now is “snake-bitten”. In 2009 and 2010 it was Omar’s fault, now it’s just called “snake-bitten”
oh and don’t forget to pat Sandy on the head on the way out – make him feel comfortable and welcomed
Why would we want to hang it Omar? We didn’t hang any of the injuries to younger Mets on him when he was here.
Maybe not having adequate back ups at some positions or having 35-40 year old’s getting hurt but even in 2009 when Reyes, Delgado and Beltran went down we had adequate back ups at 2 of the 3 spots and even had they not gone down a pitching staff that gave up the 2nd most runs since 1966, with no significant injuries, in an extreme pitchers park, after the steroid era had ended (as far as we know) wouldn’t have kept us afloat anyway.
Too me anyway it was always a case of how long could guys like Wagner, Delgado, Alou, Pedro, Castillo and Bay be expected to stay healthy or productive vs what could have been done with the draft picks given up or not taken back for a team that always has so many “holes to fill” every year.
There’s a reason why we have four first basemen in our starting eight right now and that’s the biggest reason of them all.
Gets me upset and concerned for Ike just knowing there is a low risk factor involved. Glad his test results are fine and that he is confident he has no problem, however, like with many medical conditions, he is going to have to be monitored for this and how he feels now might not be reflective of how he might be feeling later on. Let’s hope that is not the case.
Then it gets me upset for the Met situation, even if the chances we don’t have a 100% Ike Davis are remote. And neither Omar, Sandy or the Wilpons are responsible for this one so any further discussion has to be in terms of if Ike can’t hack a full season or his production diminishes what does the team do from there? Let’s hope that is not the case either, though secondary to Ike’s own health.
It doesnt sound like this is anything serious that would cause him to miss time. Hopefully.