Photo by Michael G. Baron of SNY.

Updated by Mitch Petanick on May 17, 2013

Adam Rubin has reported that Zack Wheeler is scheduled to start throwing again today, and is back with the team in Las Vegas. He was placed on the seven day DL, retroactive to his last start. He will rejoin the rotation next Wednesday when the team is in Iowa.

Wheeler received a cortisone shot last Wednesday after being diagnosed with inflammation of the AC joint in his throwing shoulder. He is still expected to only miss one start, which would have been on Saturday of this week.

Updated by Joe D. on May 15, 2013

Zack Wheeler has been diagnosed with slight inflammation in the AC joint in his shoulder, and will miss one start, according to Assistant GM John Ricco.

Wheeler received a cortisone shot at the Hospital for Special Surgery in his right shoulder and is flying to rejoin his team at Triple-A Las Vegas.

We spoke to his agent a few minutes ago who said there is no structural damage and that he is in good spirits.

That said, until I see Wheeler back on the mound pitching again, I will remain concerned.

It’s just the Mets fan in me.  :-)

Get back on that mound soon, Zack…

Original Post May 14, 2013

Zack Wheeler has a sore right clavicle, and will fly to New York to be examined by team doctors tomorrow at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

“I think we’re being a little conservative,” assistant GM John Ricco told reporters about the Mets top prospect. Wheeler had already met with the team doctor in Las Vegas.

That said, Ricco added that Wheeler will not make his scheduled start on Saturday in Omaha.

Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that Wheeler will undergo an MRI exam on his collarbone while in New York.

Terry Collins commented on this and said:

“From what I’ve heard today, it doesn’t sound serious. But any time you miss a start, it’s for the best interest of the player. We’ll wait to hear the doctor’s report and go from there. If it’s only one start, that’s certainly something we can handle easily.”

After a rough start to the season. Wheeler made a mechanical adjustment and has had incredible success over his last three starts for Triple-A Las Vegas and walked only three while posting a 1.35 ERA.

Overall, the right-hander is 2-1 with a 3.74 ERA for the season with 18 walks and 47 strikeouts in 43.1 innings pitched.

While the team calls this precautionary and conservative, any kind of soreness in the surrounding shoulder area should be a cause for some concern.

Thoughts From Mitch Petanick:

I’m hoping for the best here, but preparing for the worst. What I am worried most about is the fact that Zack Wheeler pitches using a delivery called the “Inverted W,” which could put added stress on the anterior labrum ligament in the shoulder — it slowly loosens the ligament and can actually lead to tears. Some pitchers use this delivery and go through their careers injury free, but many of them suffer injuries that require surgery…like John Smoltz and Stephen Strasburg.

Wheeler also recently tweaked his mechanics, which is what his improved control is accredited to, but could that mechanical fix in addition with the Inverted W delivery been enough to cause this shoulder discomfort? I guess we will find out after his MRI, but even precautionary MRIs are a cause for concern.

The Inverted W is like playing with fire…you can get burned.

Thoughts from Matt Musico:

The most famous No. 1 in Mets’ history has some advice when it comes to the man who is quickly becoming the most infamous No. 1 on the Mets.

“Give the kid a chance,” Mookie Wilson said Friday when discussing Jordany Valdespin. “He is a very spirited kid, very young and has a lot to learn, no question about that. But some things are being blown out of proportion. I think we need to back up and not overanalyze everything.”

That’s what Mookie told Bill Price of the Daily News.

“I do know the kid personally,” said Wilson. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with him for a limited time. I think we need to give everyone an opportunity to explain themselves and what is really happening.”

“They are struggling right now and I think that’s expected when you have young players and players coming in from other organizations. This is similar to what the Mets went through in the early ‘80s. Winning was not a frequent thing, we didn’t see the results of our labor, but in 1983 we were starting to be in games. I see that with the Mets now.”

And the beat goes on…

UPDATE:

Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog writes moments ago:

However, no team can guarantee success, regardless of who they sign, trade for or develop. They can only guarantee that New York’s media will continue to push on a story until it bleeds, because they know it will sell and people will read and listen… which is exactly what we’ve seen this week with this Valdespin and Collins story.

Is he kidding me?

What is going on over there…

Updated 3/17

As I feared, David Wright rejoined the Mets this morning and uttered the words I was hoping I wouldn’t have to hear. Regarding whether he will be ready to play by Opening Day, Wright had this to say:

“That’s looking to predict the future, and I can’t do that, and I won’t do that, because it’s the first day I’ve been back in camp.”

“So I don’t know how I’m going to feel tomorrow. I don’t know how I’m going to feel the next day. I’ll tell you that’s my goal. But I can’t predict one way or another because what I don’t want to do is try to do something and come back sooner than I should and it end up being a longer time. It’s just a matter of how quickly my body responds to these treatments and how quickly I can get pain-free in that rib-cage area.”

Regarding his decision to play through the injury and not thinking about the consequences for the team that just signed him to a huge deal, he had this to say:

“Once it got to the point where I thought it might obviously prohibit me from coming back and producing with the Mets, that’s when it was time to make that decision. I feel like I have a pretty good sense of what’s tolerable and what’s not tolerable.”

“You can get hurt in spring training,” he said. “You can get hurt before spring training. Playing baseball, there’s some risk that comes along with that, whether it’s in Port St. Lucie or Arizona or Miami. … I think everybody there was prepared. Unfortunately things like that happen. It has nothing to do with the tournament itself. It has everything to do with some bad luck.”

Adam Rubin has Wright’s complete comments so go and check them out over at his site.

Sometimes people make their own luck based on minimizing risk and making good decisions. That didn’t happen here.

I’m a little ticked off that Wright played through this soreness. I’m angry that he kept it from the Mets until Thursday when he informed Team USA that he could no longer tolerate the pain and couldn’t sleep the night before.

Staying in Mets camp rather than going to the WBC would have kept the Mets in the loop from the moment he felt that first twinge. It could have been checked out and a day or two of rest could have done the trick.

Instead, what might have been something that could have easily been cured is now a moderate intercostal strain that could cost the Mets third baseman a month or longer.

Wright’s a great guy and a great player, but it’s now clear that he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Wright may have no regrets, but I bet Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson do…

And to my friend on Twitter who gave me flack for fearing this would happen, I’ll just say this…

Precautionary, my asterisk…

Updated 3/16

Sandy Alderson announced a short while ago that David Wright has a strained intercostal muscle and will be out a minimum of three to five days.

However, given the uncertainty with rib-cage injuries, manger Terry Collins is preparing to open the season with David Wright on the disabled list.

Collins said Justin Turner, Zach Lutz, Brandon Hicks and Brian Bixler are all options at this point.

Meanwhile when prodded, Alderson said:

“Is it possible that he’ll be out for a period of time? Sure. But what we know right now is he’s going to rest for 3-5 days.”

SOP – Standard Operating Procedures…

Believe me, it could have been much worse.

We’re certainly not out of the woods here, but it could have been a lot worse than this.

Originally Posted on 3/15 at 3:20 PM

I’ve been trying to monitor this developing story regarding David Wright’s rib cage soreness ever since we all first caught wind of it last night.

I’ve tried to contact some of the people covering Team USA just to get something – anything.

A short while ago, I finally received a text that simply told me that Joe Torre was very concerned and was heard telling one of the reporters in the dugout, “I really hope David is okay.”

I asked for more. but was only told that Torre looked deeply concerned and then didn’t answer any followup questions.

As we reported earlier, Alderson spoke with reporters this morning and would only say that Wright would be examined by team doctors in New York today, and return to Port St. Lucie tomorrow.

He did not know the severity of Wright’s injury and basically seemed like he was more in the dark about everything than a person in the know.

He also made clear that neither he nor the team knew that Wright was having any discomfort until Team USA trainers informed Mets head trainer Ray Ramirez last night – and the decision to pull him from the game was immediately made.

Wright admitted to feeling discomfort as soon as he arrived to Team USA’s training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, and before they even began playing any games. In other words, Wright made the decision to play through the discomfort.

Manager Terry Collins said during the FOX Sports broadcast that Wright might not be ready to play by Opening Day.

Another concern is that the Mets will not update the media on his condition until Saturday at the earliest, according to MLB Insider for the Daily News, Andy Martino.

That sounds to me like second opinions are already in the works and that’s not a good sign.

We’ll keep you posted.

Updated by HoJo on 2/24

Pedro Feliciano will be shut down for at least two weeks from baseball activity while he wears a heart monitor while the team doctors continue to monitor could be a potentially serious heart condition,

It’s not exactly clear if Feliciano has a hole in his heart or even if that’s the cause of his irregular heartbeat. The next two weeks will help doctors come to a more exact diagnosis of the problem.

“He has a heart condition that could possibly be very serious,” Terry Collins said. “That’s why while we are waiting for further results. He is not to be on the field.”

Feliciano, 36, was expected to be the second lefthanded reliever in the Mets bullpen this season along with sophomore Josh Edgin. But this situation could open things up for some of the other southpaws in camp like Scott Rice, Robert Carson and Aaron Laffey.

We’re all keeping Pedro in our thoughts and prayers with the hope that this is nothing serious and that he can get back on a mound again as soon as he can.

Original Post 2/23

Mets lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano is being shut down due to heart-related issues, according to Marc Carig of Newsday. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, says that there is a “small hole” near the outside of Feliciano’s heart, but it does not appear to be life threatening.

The southpaw does not believe the issue to be serious, but as a precaution he will be fitted for a heart monitor. A timetable for his return to baseball-related activities has not been determined at this time.

We will continue to update you as more information is released.

Everything else during the exam was deemed to be normal by doctors at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Santana had made a rehab start on July 28^th. He looked good in his three-inning appearance in St. Lucie. Santana allowed just two hits and struck out three.

The Mets have Santana under contract until 2013 and then hold a $25 million option for 2014.

Santana has been working hard to recover from the surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. Chien-Ming Wang took two years to return from the same surgery. This brings up the question if either the Mets or Santana are rushing to get him back in the rotation.

With less than two months left in the season, the Mets are on the fringes of the Wild Card race, but it does not look like they will make the playoffs this year.

Given all of this, it does not make much sense to rush Santana. The Mets will be looking to be competitive again next year. They are a team without a true ace. Santana fills that role. The Mets need Santana to be back at 100 percent next season. Both Santana and the Mets should be careful with the rest of Santana’s rehab.

If this means that Santana starts once every six days, then that is what the Mets should do. If New York wants to put a competitive team on the field next year, they need Johan Santana to be ready, and healthy, for Opening Day.