Ed Delany, MMO

Though Spring Training has just begun, Mets players have already encountered several injuries.

Juan Lagares is nursing a strained hamstring, Tim Tebow sprained his ankle stepping on a sprinkler in the outfield, Jay Bruce is dealing with plantar fasciitis and Dominic Smith is set to undergo an MRI on Monday for a strained right quad.

“There’s no real concern,” said Smith, who injured his leg Saturday attempting to score from first on what wound up being a ground-rule double Saturday. “It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I’m going to make sure that I do everything it takes to get back out there as soon as I can.”

Smith is trying to win the first base job over veteran Adrian Gonzalez, but camp has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start for him. Prior to the injury, the 22-year-old was benched for showing up late to the team’s first Spring Training game.

“I’d be lying if I said it isn’t [frustrating],” Smith said. “I am human. At the end of the day, we do have emotions and feelings, so this definitely is frustrating, especially after the game [Saturday] that I did play. It definitely stinks.”

As for Bruce, who re-upped with the Mets on a three-year, $39 million deal this offseason, hopes to be only sidelined until Tuesday.

“I hate that you guys are wasting batteries and paper,” Bruce said when a group of reporters asked about his injury status. “It’s really precautionary.”

New Mets manager Mickey Callaway said he would be more concerned if the team wasn’t taking precautions to help mitigate injuries.

“It would bother me if we hadn’t taken precautionary measures to try and prevent some of these things,” he said. “Injuries are going to happen no matter what you do, but as long as we’re doing the right things and trying to prevent them, then it’s not going to bother you as much.”

There is the vibe in the clubhouse that this Mets team has the talent to compete, they just need to stay healthy.

“If we stay healthy, it’s going to be fun this year,” reliever Jeurys Familia said. “The group we have is a special group. Everybody has experience in the big leagues.”

Infielder Asdrubal Cabrera seconded Familia’s notion, adding that if the team stays healthy, they can reach the playoffs.

Only time will tell. Hopefully, these injuries are just a blip in the radar for the 2018 New York Mets.