Playing Doctor

With the Mets only a couple of days away from Opening Day 2020, the news about Marcus Stroman going on the injured list with a torn calf muscle is not good. The Mets need to keep their five starting pitchers healthy to have a chance to compete this season, as their depth in starting pitching basically consists of Corey Oswalt, who has a career major league ERA north of 6, and prospect David Peterson, who has yet to pitch in the major leagues. I don't know about you, but after watching Oswalt's previous starts, I'd be inclined to roll the dice with the new guy. Watching Oswalt pitch reminds me of witnessing Lima time back in 2006, only without the entertaining theatrical extras.

Anyway, there's no reason to worry about Stroman too much. I have it on good authority that Stroman has secured the doctor who is guiding Jed Lowrie through his rehabilitation. That's his picture on top of the page. Now that's a guy who inspires confidence. But all kidding aside, now Stroman has to have the calf heal and then get his arm ready again. In the best case scenario he's likely to miss a couple of starts. I can only hope this isn't one of those classic Mets injuries where the guy is expected to miss a few days and winds up being out of commission for 2 months. Bad enough in a normal season, that would be a catastrophe this year.

In better news, Wilson Ramos appears to be ready for the opener. He'll be one of about five DHs in the Mets lineup on Friday. Unfortunately, the only one who'll be DHing will be Yoenis Céspedes. The other ones will have to play actual positions. I'm hoping one of the changes a new owner might bring is to ask his GM to place a higher importance on defense. I know that the pitchers would probably appreciate that.

I'm not going to write about the Mets' sale again today, but I will touch on one thing. When I read the news about the Dodgers extending Mookie Betts to a huge contract extension today, I briefly allowed myself to dream on what it might feel like to root for a big market team that is actually run like a big market team. A great young player, just reaching his prime, becomes available and your team goes out and gets him and then does what it has to do to keep him. What a concept.

Well, I have some friends coming over in a few minutes for a cookout with all the proper social distancing. The news about Stroman makes having a few cold ones to drown my sorrows seem like an excellent idea. I'm out for now, but I'm not going on the DL. I'll be back tomorrow.

Thanks for giving us some of your time today. If you happen to have any pitching experience at all, please feel free to give Luis Rojas a call. The rest of you, please stay safe, be well and take care.

 Follow me on Twitter @MikeSteffanos