Saturday Seasons: For 2017, The Big Hurt

To say that injuries derailed the 2017 Mets would be an understatement. So numerous and so serious were the ailments that befell the team that they would crush preseason optimism into a 70-92, fourth-place finish, cost the manager and the head trainer their jobs and prompt a major revision in the team’s medical practices.

               The optimism? Start with Yoenis Cespedes, the biggest bat in the lineup, signing a four-year, $110 million contract. Second baseman Neil Walker, another decent bat, accepted a $17.2 million qualifying offer rather than test free agency. On paper, the Mets had a formidable lineup that included additional home run pop from the likes of Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, Lucas Duda and Michael Conforto.

               As for the pitching, there was hope that a talented lineup of starters all had put their considerable injury history behind them.

"Going into next season, I look at it as we're eight or nine deep," general manager Sandy Alderson was quoted as saying in an ESPN.com story.

"The fact that we're all kind of like a tight-knit brotherhood within ourselves, we're always rooting for one another," Noah Syndergaard was quoted in the same story. "We've got a really good camaraderie."

"The way things are feeling now, the way the body feels, I'm feeling great,” Matt Harvey was quoted as saying at a community appearance just before the winter meetings.  "I've got some warmth back and no more tingling. The ball is coming out really good right now, especially for December." As for Jacob deGrom, he told reporters that the post-surgical pain he felt whenever he snapped his fingers had disappeared. "It feels like nothing happened," he said.

In hindsight, phrases such as “no more tingling” and holding out as an accomplishment the ability to snap one’s fingers without feeling pain should have created enough pause to temper the optimism, but, hey, everything is positive in December, right?

But perhaps a greater omen for what was to come is what happened to Brandon Nimmo in the World Baseball Classic: a strained hamstring that left him unable to join the Opening Day roster and kept him out of action until late April, when he was optioned to AAA Las Vegas. Nimmo, who would be recalled June 16 when center fielder Juan Lagares went on the DL, would suffer a collapsed lung three weeks later and go on the DL himself.

Then there was closer Jeurys Familia. He would begin the season on the suspended list, the result of a domestic violence arrest the previous Halloween. The charges were dismissed and MLB’s investigation, Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “does not support a determination that Mr. Familia physically assaulted his wife, or threatened her or others with physical force or harm…Nevertheless, I have concluded that Mr. Familia’s overall conduct that night was inappropriate, violated the [domestic violence] policy, and warrants discipline.”  Manfred imposed a 15-day suspension, after which Familia returned to the roster, and three weeks later suffered a blood clot in an artery in his right shoulder, sending him to an operating room and several months on the disabled list.

By then, the DL had already become crowded by Cespedes, who suffered a strained hamstring that would eventually end his season on August 25, after playing in only 82 games, and Syndergaard, shelved with a lat tear.

In both instances, questions were raised about how the Mets handled the injuries. After Cespedes first injured his hamstring on April 20, the team merely sat him for five days rather than DL him for 10; when he returned to play, he reaggravated the injury then went on the DL for an extended period.

Syndergaard reported some shoulder discomfort, prompting the team to request he go for an MRI. He refused; the Mets didn’t force the issue.

“I can’t tie him down and throw him into the tube,” Alderson said at the time.

So they let Syndergaard throw a bullpen session and report he was okay. “We took him at face value,” Alderson said. “We also had a recommendation by the doctor, who felt strongly that he was fine.”

But only an inning and a third into his next start on April 30, it became clear that Syndergaard was not fine. He came out of the game grimacing and grabbing his right side. This time, he did agree to the MRI, which discovered the tear. He wouldn’t pitch again until Sept. 22.

“Would the [original, declined] MRI have disclosed a lat issue or reaffirmed some concern about the bicep? We’ll never know,” Alderson was quoted in a column by the Daily News’ John Harper.

Also on the DL at that point were Duda, David Wright, Wilmer Flores and starters Steven Matz (ulnar nerve) and Seth Lugo (partially torn ulnar collateral ligament). In fact, by mid-season, six of the expected seven starting pitchers would spend some on the DL, including Matt Harvey (stress injury in his right scapula). Conforto would lose playing time with a dislocated shoulder and torn posterior capsule.

So a team that had expected to contend never got out of the starting gate – a 10-14 record in April, followed by 13-14 in May, and by the all-star break, with a 39-47 record, it was clear that the team would be sellers at the trading deadline.

In quick succession , Alderson traded Walker, Duda, Granderson and Addison Reed, who had taken over Familia’s closing duties.

“It’s the first time I’ve been moved during the course of the season,” said Granderson, sent to the contending Los Angeles Dodgers. “It’s a little bittersweet, but to get the opportunity to play in the postseason, it’s going to be exciting.”

As for those who were left?  “This is hard for these guys. We started spring training with tremendous expectations, and they all had them themselves,” manager Terry Collins said. “All of a sudden you look around, there’s new people everywhere. It’s a little bit of a culture shock for some of our guys.”

“It’s strange,” Conforto said. “It feels like a long time ago when we had everyone healthy and the guys we traded away [were here].”

The trades did prompt the promotions of two top Mets prospects, shortstop Ahmed Rosario and first baseman Dominick Smith, neither of whom would live up to expectations. Rosario hit .248 in 46 games and Smith a mere .198 in 49 games, although he did swat nine home runs.

As the calendar turned to September, it became clear that Collins was on his way out. Stories surfaced that Alderson had wanted fire Collins during the season and that owner Fred Wilpon stepped in to prevent it. And a particularly pointed anti-Collins piece ran in Newsday, with comments from unnamed players and front office personnel alleging among other things that Collins’ use of Familia led to the closer’s blood clot and that he played favorites in the clubhouse, giving preference to the veterans over the younger players.

Stories also appeared that the Mets were hoping the then 68-year-old Collins would make it easier on them by opting to retire when his contract expired at the end of the season, but that Collins wanted to keep his options open in baseball.

It appeared that the Mets were headed for another Wilie Randolph or Art Howe- like uncomfortable parting the ways, but the end result came off as somewhat of a soft-landing compromise: Collins resigned as manager, but the Mets said he would take an advisory front office role focusing on player development. Alderson noted Collins’ experience in that role, a needed position given Alderson’s unhappiness with the preparedness exhibited by some of the players called up during the season. “I was disappointed with the performance of some of these players and their preparation for playing at the major league level,” Alderson said. “This is an area I think Terry can be very helpful, so I expect that a good part of his time will be spent in the area of player development.”

But perhaps the biggest surprise, and the one most hailed by fans, was the dismissal of head trainer Ray Ramirez, who essentially took the fall for the rash of injuries. Alderson said the team would revamp all of its medical procedures

“We will be adding staff as well as replacing Ray,” Alderson said. “But there will be a reorganization that I think will provide us with more capacity as well as different organizational structure. With regard to Ray and the decision to reorganize, we felt it was going to be difficult to retain Ray.”

Noted Jack Dickey in an si.com column: “ Ramirez made a terrific scapegoat. So much was going wrong with the Mets. But there was no direct and effective way to bemoan the post-Bernie Madoff parsimony of the team’s owners or the Sandy Alderson regime’s struggles in the draft. The M.D.’s from the Hospital for Special Surgery don’t sit in the dugout. And even in New York only a certain subset of fans is willing to boo the home team. Ramirez, though, was present, every third night jogging onto the field to wrestle with some fresh hell, something that could happen seemingly only to the Mets.

“How culpable, personally, was he? (Who knew? Who cared?) For better or worse, the question now becomes his successor’s to answer. As for Ramirez? As Mets injury nomenclature would have it: His tenure with the team is day-to-day with a calf strain.”