Dr. David Wright Hopes the Mets Have a Plan for Reyes

Dr. David Wright was asked about Jose Reyes’ decision to take swings from the left side the day after being pulled from a game because he re-aggravated an oblique injury. This was the same oblique injury that prevented Reyes from swinging from the left side for most of the week.

Before we go any further, here is the recap:

  1. Reyes injures oblique
  2. Reyes returns to lineup too early, but can only hit from the right side
  3. Reyes re-injures his oblique on Saturday, only David Wright notices
  4. Reyes is pulled from Saturday’s game
  5. Reyes takes BP from the left side on Sunday

Pretty sweet, huh? So anyway, what does Dr. David Wright think of all this? Let’s find out, via ESPN New York:

Had Wright not intervened, would anyone else have? Wright indicated over the weekend he didn’t know the answer. It’s certainly debatable.

Even Wright used the word “surprising” when describing his reaction to learning the switch-hitting Reyes was allowed to swing a bat from his troublesome left side on Sunday, the day after being pulled from the game by manager Jerry Manuel once Wright spoke up. The Mets consistently have suggested Reyes can do no additional harm to the oblique area with baseball activity. But with the team idle until Thursday, perhaps giving Reyes some idle time would give the muscle a better chance to heal than allowing relatively uninterrupted swinging.

“I’m not even claiming to be a doctor, or anything of a doctor,” Wright said. “It’s obviously a little surprising. But, again, I don’t know what he’s feeling. And I don’t know what the pain threshold is like. And I don’t know exactly what is wrong with him, or if it can get any worse. Hopefully there’s a plan in place, and hopefully they’re following the plan. But the bottom line is I want to see him healthy in the second half.”

Wright better watch out or Jeff Wilpon might throw him under the bus, just like he blamed Reyes’ calf/hamstring/whatever injury on the Dodgers medical staff last year.

  1. gary s. July 13, 2010 at 10:08 am
    loge mezz, does it strike u odd, that reyes flew out to the all star game and than i see him posing for pictures in uniform during the home run derby last nite on espn?Maybe we need Dr. David Wrights input on flying back and forth to the west coast and participating in non -athletic events in the all star game with a strained oblique versus staying home, getting complete rest and physical therapy for 5 days.I’m not a doctor, but i think the latter would get him back in the lineup faster.btw, i did read that him and wright flew to the west coast on a private jet.Still seems rather odd to take a chance with the engine that makes the team go.
    • loge mezzanine July 13, 2010 at 10:17 am
      You raise an excellent point, gary.

      And if they flew out on the same private jet, it is odd that Reyes doesn’t seem to have filled Wright in on the “plan” during the trip. Who knows… Maybe Reyes gave Doctor Dave the cold shoulder on the flight because he is mad at him for getting him pulled from the game.

      This is all speculation, but SOMETHING had to happen to make Wright question the “plan.”

    • isuzudude July 13, 2010 at 3:02 pm
      The handling of Reyes has been atrocious, but let’s not get sidetracked. The Mets open up the 2nd half in San Francisco – on the West Coast. So he’s not going to be traveling “back and forth.” And what’s to say Reyes isn’t doing physical therapy and plenty of relaxation while attending the all-star festivities? Do you know his personal schedule? I don’t, but let’s not automatically assume the worst here. Reyes is just as capable of recovering from his injury while being a spectator at the all-star game on the west coast as he would have been at “home” in NY.
  2. metsie July 13, 2010 at 11:05 am
    I don’t think there is a problem with the team plan. I think it’s a problem with Reyes following it.

    Lets face it, Reyes and Wright are the core of this team but thats about where the similarities end! Wright is the responsible mature guy and Reyes is still like the little kid in the candy store.

    No one has been fighting the “Rest until it’s better” plan more than Reyes. He didn’t want to come out when he originally hurt it and he was probably a pain in Manuel’s ass until he got put back in.

    When he re-injured on that throw he didn’t want to come out then either and Wright had to call the trainer to come out and drag him away.

    That said what makes Reyes problematic in doing the right thing during an injury is the same reckless abandon that makes him the main catalyst of our offense!

    The guy just doesn’t know anything but “go all out” and if he was a bit more mature he would know resting during the all star break would be a lot better than resting in the off season while the Braves and Phillies were playing for the NL title!

  3. Kevin July 13, 2010 at 11:08 am
    metsie- aside from your borderline racist assumption that reyes is the bad guy here, why cant the mets enforce team policy? i’m watching a thing on steinbrenner on the yes network right now (rip steinbrenner, i hated ya but you wanted to win and that was your role). so, if steinbrenner could make lou pinella cut his hair, why cant jeff wilpon make jose reyes rest?
    • isuzudude July 13, 2010 at 3:08 pm
      Borderline racist??? Where do you get that from after reading metsie’s comments, Kevin? You are assuming metsie is calling Reyes the bad guy because he is hispanic, even though he doesn’t mention, elude to, or vaguely reference Reyes’ nationality in his entire post. Whatever racist tone his comments had were put there by you, which makes you the person seeing the world in ranks, classes, and colors, not him.
  4. Kevin July 13, 2010 at 3:34 pm
    so then why is wright the responsible mature guy and reyes is the reckless and immature one? if the team lets jose do his thing then why are we calling him reckless? we fans have to stop this nonsense. jose plays hard. i dont wanna hear about reckless and immature.
  5. isuzudude July 13, 2010 at 3:55 pm
    are you kidding? are you dense? so automatically if a person of color gets criticized the basis of the criticism has to be race? it’s scary that your thought process works that way, Kevin.

    I don’t mean to speak for metsie, but Wright is the mature guy because he recognizes the importance of Reyes’ health for the future over his passion to play hurt in the present; while Reyes is reckless and immature because he fails to allow his body to fully heal before returning to action and has failed to learn from similar past experiences. it’s that simple. the Mets are also at fault for not being more authoritative towards their players, but just because a person chooses to criticize Reyes instead of solely the Mets does not make that person a racist. do you really need this explained to you?

  6. Belisarius July 13, 2010 at 4:15 pm
    Dont feed the troll man
  7. gary s. July 13, 2010 at 4:21 pm
    dude, leave it alone.u will never get thru to someone like kevin.and i don’t know how Joe feels about this, but there is no place for the racial comments that kevin posted about on a baseball site.Reyes’s problem stems from immaturity, not race.There are plenty of ballplayers in MLB of all races and nationalities who are immature and need to grow up.That’s just a fact of life.If u want to write about racial theories, please post on one of the thousands of poltical websites on the internet.Let’s stick to baseball.
    • isuzudude July 13, 2010 at 4:25 pm
      true that, gary. We can all criticize John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, and Ike Davis for their moments of immaturity and recklessness, but people like Reyes, and presumably Ollie and Krod, get passes because of their ethnic background. what a crock.