Sandy Alderson told the New York Post on Wednesday night that “Mike (Barwis) is not going anywhere,” when asked about possible changes to help a New York Mets team that has been ravaged by injuries in 2017.
The Mets general manager went on to say, “Mike is one of our most important staff and resources.”
In 2011, Barwis started the company Barwis Methods after working in college sports since 2003 for West Virginia and Michigan. He was appointed the Mets Senior Advisor for Strength and Conditioning on October 2, 2014. In his role, he oversees the major league and minor league strength and conditioning.
Barwis has a training facility connected with the Mets spring training facility in Port St. Lucie that major and minor leaguers use during the offseason.
The methods by Barwis have come under scrutiny for recently with a large portion of the Mets injuries being muscle related. However, Alderson is not ready to place any blame on Barwis.
“The perception that some people have of what Barwis provides to the Mets is completely erroneous,” Alderson said. “He provides mostly training in the offseason and there are a couple of misconceptions.”
One of the most frustrating parts of the Mets 2017 season is constant battle for Yoenis Cespedes to stay on the field. In the first season of a four year, $110 million contract, Cespedes played only 81 games and had a right hamstring strain end his season in August. Cespedes was on the disabled list early in the season with a left hamstring strain. He also missed time this year with a sore heel.
ESPN did a segment on Cespedes training with Barwis before the regular season as Yoenis went over the weight lifting and other activities he did to get in shape for the 2017 season.
The 81 games for Cespedes are the fewest he’s played in a season since debuting in the big leagues back in 2012.
Despite Cespedes not being able to stay on the field this year, “Barwis is probably key to keeping Cespedes on the field going forward. The guy that Cespedes most trusts is Barwis,” Alderson told the post.
According to Roster Resource’s Disabled List Tracker, the Mets have had 28 DL stints this year which is tied for the fourth most in MLB. Roster Resource also has a calculation they call Roster Effect Rating, in which the Mets lead the league at 9.79 with the Los Angeles Dodgers right behind them at 8.83.
The Mets have been without Noah Syndergaard for a large portion of the season, closer Jeurys Familia missed was on the DL for 106 days and star outfielder Michael Conforto underwent shoulder surgery and is a question mark for the start of spring training in 2018.
T.J. Rivera is having Tommy John surgery today, Steven Matz is done for the season, Zack Wheeler won’t throw again this year, the list could go on and on.
The Mets have not only had an issue with injuries this season, but they’ve also had an issue reporting them and utilizing the new 10-day disabled list as they continued to play with short benches.
