The Mets continue to handle injured players weirdly - MLB

With the new collective bargaining agreement, the minimum stay on the disabled list was shortened from 15 days to 10 days as a way to incentivize players and their teams to stop hiding and playing through injuries. If a player had a minor injury that he and/or the team felt would only take a week or so to get through, the player would simply sit on the bench for that period of time, essentially nullifying the utility of one spot on the roster. With the 10-day disabled list, that isn’t as much of an issue now.

The Mets, however, have been very averse to putting players on the disabled list still. Travis d'Arnaud is a good example. The catcher suffered a wrist injury on April 19 against the Phillies. He didn’t start from April 20-23, but appeared in all four games as a pinch-hitter. After a team off-day, d’Arnaud started on the 26th but only lasted five innings. On May 2, d’Arnaud left after six innings against the Brewers. The Mets didn’t put him in the lineup yesterday nor is he in tonight’s starting lineup. As D.J. Short suggested, the Mets could put him on the disabled list, which would free up a roster spot that the club is otherwise using sub-optimally.

d’Arnaud isn’t the only example. Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes left the Mets’ April 20 game against the Phillies with a cramp in his left hamstring. He was held out of the lineup for the next five days and returned on the 26th. He started both on the 26th and 27th, but went on the disabled list on the 28th. The next day, the Mets refused to tell the media the exact severity of the injury, instead vaguely saying it was a “non-serious” injury. Usually, with hamstring strains, the team tells the media whether it’s a Grade 1, 2, or 3 strain with a Grade 3 strain being the most severe.

Lucas Duda hyperextended his left elbow on April 19 against the Phillies. The Mets held him out on the 20th, then placed him on the disabled list on the 21st.

This is all in conjunction with the Noah Syndergaard situation. Syndergaard was scratched from his start on April 27 with biceps tendinitis. On the 29th, the right-hander refused to undergo an MRI, which the team allowed for some reason. On the 30th, Syndergaard started but lasted only 1 1/3 innings in what turned out to be a 23-5 drubbing by the Nationals. He was diagnosed with a torn lat muscle.

The Mets are very passive when it comes to their injured players. They wait a long time before placing them on the disabled list, completely ignoring the added incentives for them to do so. By continuing to use banged-up players, they increase the risk of those injured players exacerbating their injuries. And they allow some of their players to dictate medical treatment as evidenced by the Syndergaard case. Why have medical personnel on staff if you’re not going to use them, especially when it comes to your most important players?

Winners of 87 games last year, the Mets enter Thursday’s action 12-15, good for fourth place in the NL East. How many of those losses might have been wins if the club had a more proactive approach to player health?

Follow @Baer_Bill

NEW YORK — With the stench of smoke permeating Yankee Stadium and wafting through its walkways, Major League Baseball postponed games in New York and Philadelphia on Wednesday night because of poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires.

A National Women’s Soccer League game in New Jersey and an indoor WNBA game set for Brooklyn were also called off Wednesday amid hazy conditions that have raised alarms from health authorities.

The New York Yankees’ game against the Chicago White Sox was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader starting at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the Detroit Tigers was reset for 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, originally a day off for both teams.

“These postponements were determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and all of the impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities,” MLB said in a statement.

The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for New York City, saying: “the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.” In Philadelphia, the NWS issued a Code Red.

The Yankees and White Sox played through a lesser haze on Tuesday night. A day later, stadium workers and fans arriving early to the ballpark wore face masks for protection in a scene reminiscent of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was business as usual for me coming in. I got in around 12, 12:30, and didn’t really think too much of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I actually walked outside about 2 o’clock and was like – like everyone else, like – whoa.”

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol thought MLB made the right decision postponing the game.

“These are health issues, right? So this has got to be it. We’ve been through everything – snow, rain, hail. I don’t think I’ve been through something like this,” he said. “Today at one point, it was pretty bad out there. We walked out of the dugout and it was kind of orange. They did the right thing. They got all the information.

“I’m assuming if Major League Baseball is comfortable setting up a doubleheader tomorrow, they have some type of information that it should be better than what it is today, or at least safe.”

In Philadelphia, the Phillies beat the Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday night in a game played in hazy conditions with the smell of smoke in the air. Afterward, manager Rob Thomson and his Phillies players said the conditions didn’t affect them.

About a half-hour before Wednesday’s postponement, Thomson said he thought the game would be played. But the Philadelphia skyline could not be seen from the ballpark in the afternoon, and the smoky smell remained.

Minor league teams nearby also changed plans. The Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania, and the Mets’ top farm club in Syracuse, New York, postponed their games for the second consecutive night.

The Mets’ High-A affiliate in Brooklyn completed a game Wednesday against Greenville that began at 11 a.m.

The WNBA called off a game between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, saying the decision was made to “protect the health and safety of our fans, teams and community.” A makeup date wasn’t immediately announced.

Even inside Barclays Center at the morning shootaround, reporters could smell smoke in the arena.

The NWSL postponed Orlando’s match at Gotham in Harrison, New Jersey, from Wednesday night to Aug. 9.

“The match could not be safely conducted based on the projected air quality index,” the NWSL said.

At nearby Belmont Park, the New York Racing Association said training went on as planned Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s Triple Crown horse race. However, NYRA canceled training Thursday morning at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate “due to poor air quality conditions forecast to impact New York State overnight and into Thursday morning.”

NYRA said a decision about Thursday’s live racing program, scheduled to begin at 3:05 p.m., will be made Thursday morning “following a review of the air quality conditions and forecast.”

“NYRA utilizes external weather services and advanced on-site equipment to monitor weather conditions and air quality in and around Belmont Park,” spokesman Patrick McKenna said Wednesday. “Training was conducted normally today, and NYRA will continue to assess the overall environment to ensure the safety of training and racing throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.”

New York’s NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, both had Wednesday off from offseason workouts. The Giants had been planning to practice inside Thursday, and the Jets said they are also likely to work out indoors Thursday.

Youth sports in the area were also affected, with parents quick to voice concern about their children’s safety outdoors.

In a statement Wednesday, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association said schools should understand that all schedules were subject to change.

“NJSIAA is closely monitoring air quality data across New Jersey and local/state health advisories. As start times for athletic events draw near, we will make decisions for each venue and sport based on currently available information,” the organization said.

It’s not the first time in recent years that wildfires forced changes to the MLB schedule. A two-game series in Seattle between the Mariners and Giants was moved to San Francisco in September 2020 because of poor air quality caused by West Coast wildfires.

About an hour after Wednesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium was postponed, two fans visiting on vacation from Vancouver, British Columbia, were still lingering outside the ballpark.

“It’s just circumstances. What do I say? It makes me disappointed because this is one of the highlights of the trip,” said Malcolm, who was in town with his daughter and didn’t want to give his last name.

“I have a heart condition. That’s the only reason I’m wearing two masks and whatever. And my personal thought is that, why wasn’t it canceled two days ago? Because we knew about all this two days ago. But having said that, I don’t want the players running around and putting out in this, too. It can’t be good for them.”