2013 Impact Rookies: #16 Travis D’Arnaud, C

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• King Ponzi February 15, 2013 at 8:37 am

  Another F-Mart? That’s the Mets for you.
  • Hitman February 15, 2013 at 1:00 pm

    Not even close. Try again.
• CThomp519 February 15, 2013 at 9:06 am

  You have got to love the depth this team has in their rotation.

  Having Wheeler, Mejia, McHugh and Hefner all in the Vegas rotation is a huge strength for this team. Losing even two starters would not be that much of a killer(as long, of course, as those two are not Niese and Harvey).

  As far as Travis is concerned, I’m really not that worried. The knee injury was a freak thing while sliding into second and offensively, this kid has never disappointed. I think come May, the Mets will get a huge offensive injection.
• Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 9:35 am

  I am sorry, but why is it that every report about this guy has to do with his injuries? Am i the only concern about the guy’s health issues? I am even afraid to say because once again i’ll be pegged as a hater of this guy just because sandy got him, but it seems to me, everyone else except mets fans seem very concern about this guy’s inability to stay healthy… A player can be very talented, all the skills in the world, but if he’s fragile he is not gonna live up to the hype.
  Let’s cross our fingers and hope luck doesn’t work against us once again but man…. when a scouting report for a player always include the “If he can stay healthy” comment it’s usually not a good sign
  • Met Maniac February 15, 2013 at 9:44 am

    Don’t prejudge people. Why would anyone call you a hater for bringing up the most legitimate concern about d’Arnaud? People on MMO just aren’t that shallow. [gulp]
  • Met Maniac February 15, 2013 at 9:46 am

    BTW Alex, don’t go to Florida because it’s another rainy morning according to the Wilpon/SNY Metsblog.
    • Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 10:30 am

      Lmao…. Well, april it is again when i’ll be visiting my bro and once again going to the game to see lebron james and the miami heat…
      • Joey D. February 15, 2013 at 11:47 am

        Hi Alex,

        No, you’re not the only one who has concerns. Remember what Anthony Lapoce was quoted about the other day in MMO regarding d’Arnaud?

        “One concern that Iapoce mentioned, however, is that d’Arnaud has spent time on the disabled list in each of the past few seasons, with his major injury – a torn posterior cruciate ligament last summer – shutting him down for several months.

        “If d’Arnaud can stay healthy, he’s going to be fun to watch and will hopefully contribute to some competitive Mets’ teams in the near future.”

        I know, it is tempting for many of us to say the Mets are getting a potential backstop who might also be prone to injury – expecially because that was the justification from so many (including our general manager) not to re-sign Jose Reyes who was only 28 at the time he declared free agency. BTW – Travis is only 24 but for a catcher with the toll of the wear and tear of that position demands, those extra four years as age is concerned might be a trade off with that of a shortstop.

        Also, wasn’t it also a concern with how long R.A. could pitch to the level he has the past three seasons – because of his “hard” knuckler? If anything, BOTH CLUBS took a chance as far as health and stamina are concerned – besides the usual risk of d’Arnaud still being only a prospect.

        But even if d’Arnaud is hampered by being injury prone (we don’t know that) , if 32 year old John Buck can average his 20 home runs and .235 BA per year and be the smart catcher than he is, though it would not justify trading R.A., at least we will get something good out of the trade. It’s just that the Mets need more bats in the lineup and except for one season, John has never hit higher than .247. One cannot go by his OBP since he was batting 8th and that would automatically draw a lot more walks. Deducting the 5 intentional walks/plate appearances he got and his OBP drops 18 points and that, of course, does not include the many times he was just pitched around.

        But I like Buck behind the plate. He won’t be a long-term solution to our catching situation and hopefully d’Arnaud works out – both in his ability to play on the MLB level and not sustain any more than the usual injuries backstops are suspetable to – to resolve that long-term.
  • jessep February 15, 2013 at 9:48 am

    I don’t think its unfair to be concerned about his injury past but it depends on which injury worries you. His PCL injury isn’t something that proves he’s fragile. An infielder landed on him. It proves he had bad luck

    His bulging disks in his back 2 years ago would worry me more. But that’s the risk you gotta take no?
    • Metsie February 15, 2013 at 1:27 pm

      Your forgetting something….
      While getting his PCL injured may not mean he was fragile then, now that he has it and they did NOT operate to correct it he now IS more fragile!

      Won’t take much to make that knee worse and it certainly won’t be UNSTRESSED with him squatting behind a plate all season.

      It may have happened as a freakish accident but now that the damage is done to a player who plays a position that is notroriously hard on knees (even healthy ones) it should remain a concern and steps should be taken by the team to keep a constant check on it to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

      The Back is still a concern and will probably shorten his career but thats something to worry about more later on after he hits FA. Lets just hope it doesn’t affect his swing.
      • jessep February 15, 2013 at 1:49 pm

        but the injury didn’t require surgery. If the injury is just the PCL which it was, they don’t require surgery for it to heal well. Just a steady rest and solid physical therapy plan which I would have to trust he’s had. So it’s not like tearing an ACL or even MCL… it will take a serious freak accident for the injury to re-occur.

        from a medical journal with a study done in japan just to give you an idea

        Conservative treatment is currently recommended for most isolated posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries in athletes. However, it is not known whether conservative treatment is applicable even in high performance athletes with isolated PCL injury. The results in two extremely high performance athletes, professional baseball players with isolated acute PCL injury treated conservatively are reported. A catcher and an out fielder, who were regular players, hurt their knees in baseball games. Magnetic resonance images of the knee detected complete PCL rupture. Following a carefully guided physical therapy program, a 3-week period of immobilization of the knee in full extension was achieved with a knee brace, while performing hard quadriceps muscle strengthening exercise, and then running exercise was started. Six to eight weeks after injury, they were able to return fully to their original sporting activity despite tibial posterior translation on posterior drawer test, and to sustain this activity over 2 years. Switching of weight-bearing to non-weight-bearing in a deep knee flexion is considered to contribute to subjective instability in athletes with PCL-deficiency. Probably because our cases, even though extremely high performance athletes were infrequently subjected to such a situation while playing baseball, they were able to return to their pre-injury level of athletic performance without severe subjective instability through conservative treatment.
        • Metsie February 15, 2013 at 2:01 pm

          Ok two things in response….

          First off unless your trying to say he is as healthy as before he hurt his PCL he is going to have issues….

          “despite tibial posterior translation on posterior drawer test”
          Translation in this case equals MOVEMENT that isn’t really normal and show a lack of stability in the knee joint that COULD lead to further stress on the other ligaments in the knee…
          Sure he could get back to performing the way he did before he hurt it but that does not mean he is less (or not more) likely to hurt something else in the knee than some other pllayer who has not hurt his PCL.

          They reccomend conservative treatment because there is no RADICAL treatment. They have yet to come up with a way to repair ligaments in the knee what they do is restructure the joint to compesate for the loss of the ligament in ACL and MCLs since there is no way to compesate for a PCL they do what they can do…NOTHING, Build up the muscles around it in an attempt to compensate for the loss of the ligament and hope the muscles add stability to what is essentially an unstable knee!

          SO maybe he wasn’t so fragile before the injury…But he IS fragile now…One good hit to the knee or over stressing it can cause the rest of that knee to blow out…
          And then d’Arnaud at best will be playing 1B not C anymore.
  • TRS86 February 15, 2013 at 9:55 am

    Of course we are concerned about injuries… we are Mets fans aren’t we?
• Lisa P. February 15, 2013 at 10:10 am

  I’m very excited to see TDA more than any other player once the Spring games begin. He was costly but I’ve yet to see one person say he wasn’t worth it. Not one. Instead all I hear is about how special and talented he is. Lets Go Mets!
  • Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 10:29 am

    Instead all I hear is about how special and talented he is. ”

    Don’t forget injury prone….
• Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 10:35 am

  Here’s something interesting:

  http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/high_on_arnaud_lUyRURftLbCpJssNUBbEnM
  • srt February 15, 2013 at 10:46 am

    ‘The Mets got themselves a good one.’’

    Crossing my fingers.
  • TRS86 February 15, 2013 at 10:54 am

    Thanks for this Alex. Lets hope the Mets have found their next Carter or if nothing else LoDuca with out the roids. Of course what was LoDuca without those? Never-mind.
    • srt February 15, 2013 at 10:59 am

      Nice write-up from Puma on Cowgill too.

      Mets’ outfielder Cowgill being compared with gritty Dykstra

      http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/the_new_nails_zJ9LcfjYg5vvjeK8bbg7XL?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Mets
• Mr North Jersey February 15, 2013 at 12:18 pm

  It’s only reasonable that with the Mets recent history regarding injuries for one to be concerned. Until a player like d’Arnaud actually plays a full season one just can’t ever feel comfortable. I remember worrying the same with Reyes in his early years until he finally put together back 2 back full seasons.

  The herniated disk that required surgery happened back in 2010 and from my understanding has not been an issue since. He put in a solid 2011 season that after which while playing for Team Panama during October of 2011 saw him tear his thumb ligament. He had the surgery required to repair it and was ready to go the following Spring and once again showed no ill effects from either the herniated disk surgery or the torn thumb ligament as he was having an All Start season up until going down with the most recent injury to his PCL while breaking up a double play that did not require surgery to heal. It remains to be seen until he gets into some regular game action if the knee or for that matter and old or new injuries hamper his development.

  That being said d’Arnaud despite some of his injuries is viewed as a top 10 prospect in all of MLB by many people that have watched him play. The belief is the ceiling is high with him. The Mets clearly took a gamble when they traded Dickey and made him the key part in the deal that d’Arnaud is worth the gamble. Now all we can do is wait to see if they were right.
  • Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Now all we can do is wait to see if they were right.”

    Ok, here’s the question then, what if we were wrong? Or if he continues to be injury prone ? What then? isn’t this a big set back for us once again? Who you gonna build around when the kids become bust and/or can’t play due to injury? the patter is more to be like the pirates and royals then to be tampa bay
    • Mr North Jersey February 15, 2013 at 12:30 pm

      As far as if they are wrong like I have already said earlier we may be restarting the clock again for a new administration if they are not right.
    • Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 12:36 pm

      So baically, 2015 it’s the year people will really be ready to judge this administration? because, last i checked that’s the time table for wheeler and d’aranud to be ready no?
      • van February 15, 2013 at 12:56 pm

        considering they are both pretty much considered to be locks to arrive this season, you might be off by a couple of years.

        and like with every player, if they bust, or get hurt, you move on and find a replacement.

        A major-name FA signing like Bay can go down in a crapitude pyre too, and you do the best you can to work around it, the only difference is you are stuck with the corpse for many years!
      • Alex68 February 15, 2013 at 1:12 pm

        Van, i know that, what i was getting at it’s that usually you give at most prospects about 2 years to know whether they’d be good or not once they’re in the majors, for all we know they can both come up, be PO’s, then next year they can turn it around and become greats or vice versa. either way i think 2015 it’s the year we’ll know for certain about most of these kids we are supposedly building our foundation for