Or at least that’s what it sounds like. Here’s manager Jerry Manuel, as quoted by Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News:
“I don’t see it right now,” Manuel said about the righthander’s Opening Day availability. “Hopefully I’m wrong.”
Of course, Craig has been on this story ever since it was first reported that Escobar was suffering from shoulder weakness. The Mets have tried to temper expectations for Escobar, even hinting that he wasn’t expected to be ready for the start of the season in the first place. Well then why did they guarantee $1.5 million to such an unknown quantity? And why wasn’t this conveyed more openly in the first place?
Provided the Mets fail to sign Kiko Calero (an injury concern in his own right own), the Mets are going to have to rely heavily on Japanese right-hander Ryota Igarashi or someone else (Fernando Nieve? Bobby Parnell? Sean Green?) to step up to the eighth-inning role. As of now, it’s a shaky bridge to Francisco Rodriguez.