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.
