Steve Mitchell, USA Today
Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who is recovering from a strained patellar tendon in his left knee, fielded grounders and then took six at-bats as the DH in a minor league intra-squad game on Thursday in Port St. Lucie.
According to a report by Marc Carig of Newsday, manager Terry Collins said he’s hoping to to get Cabrera into a Grapefruit League game as soon as this Sunday, which supports the previous reports that the new Mets shortstop will be ready for Opening Night in Kansas City.
Cabrera will likely DH in the game and is not expected to play shortstop. He is expected to do some baserunning on Friday and serve as a designated hitter in a minor-league game.
One remaining concern for Terry Collins is finding some time to allow Cabrera and second baseman Neil Walker to work a few games together and get comfortable with each other before the season opener.
“We will certainly push it a little bit,” Collins said. “We’ll get some extra work for him [Cabrera] and push the process along a little bit.”
Cabrera seemed unconcerned about it. “My knee feels pretty good,” Cabrera said. “We’ll figure it out from there.”
Original Report
Asdrubal Cabrera, who is recovering from a strained patellar tendon has yet to test it out by running. Cabrera has taken some swings in the cage as well as some grounders in the field, but has yet to give it the biggest test yet.
Terry Collins will look to get Cabrera some at-bats by the end of the week, possibly in a DH role in some minor league games, where he may not run.
“We’re hoping that he does some DH-ing by the end of the week in minor league games, As soon as they give us the go that he can stop and start and there’s no issues with the knee, we can get him back on the field,” Collins said. (NY Post)
The Mets manager knows that getting Cabrera on the basepaths is crucial as it really helps to determine where the player may be in his recovery as well as where he stands on being ready for opening day.
“Can he stop, how’s it going to bother him when he cuts, [are] there any issues there?” That will be the next test. But right now, as long as he can do some baseball activities and get in the batter’s box and see pitches and swing. … I want to get him in the batter’s box for sure,” Collins said.
Adsrubal Cabrera signed a two-year pact with this Mets this past off-season. Cabrera will receive $8.25 million in each of the next two seasons, with a $2 million buyout on his 2018 club option, for a total guaranteed salary of $18.5 million.
