… And the answer is, right now.
“Umm, when is it umm….. APPROPRIATE TO HIT THE PANIC BUTTON”.
Maybe David is soft after a year spent more in contemplation of prior seasons’ non-stellar results and less in the gym. Whatever the cause, however, the injury is nonetheless cause for concern. For the Mets to wind up in the 90-win, best case scenario ballpark they’ve been anointed with relies heavily on a come-back season from David.
No knock against Justin Turner – who in dire times last year proved to be a scrappy, versatile infielder with the ability to get on base, on occasion. And of course we can’t forget the ultimate fall-back: moving Murphy to the hot-corner, a position where he won’t be asked to make the dangerous turn that has twice thus far lead to the end of his season. But if these are the two solutions we’re most likely to fall back on, we’re in trouble for several reasons.
First, wasn’t the moving of the fences designed to increase our (see Jason Bay and David Wrights) offense and eradicate the gut-wrenching warning track grabs that seemed to doom us before we even began last year. My gut tells me that neither Turner nor Murphy will be reaping those benefits and while my faith in Ruben at short is high, he’s a slap hitter who will seldom reach the gaps. Lucas likes to go to right. Reese Havens can’t be considered more than a question mark and while during tonight’s PSL season-opener, Gary and the crew spoke highly of Jordany Valdespin’s athleticism, touting one’s athleticism is indicative of a belief that other elements are left to be desired.
Second, this isn’t the least of our concerns. In a storyline straight out of the crusades/plague era, Ike Davis has developed a case of valley fever. For those of you unfamiliar with the condition, its primary symptom is spontaneous combustion, but of course only when connected to baseball. The last public persona to fall sick at the hand of this disease was Connor Jackson, who then missed nearly an entire season (costing him valuable development time, something Ike still needs). Before Jackson, I believe it was Napoleon.
As an addendum to that Jeopardy answer, “it depends who you ask”. For an entire off-season, Mets fans have been bombarded with excuses to think the season was a lost cause. Not until the majority accepted these conditions did the light of possibility began to shine on Flushing (and PSL). Reports are that David will be fine; that Ike won’t miss anytime; that Harvey is not actually considering becoming a man of the cloth; and, that Mr. Tejada is not suffering from a rarely potent case of the gout. So ask a pacifist and he’ll tell you that the question is worthy of protest.
But ask a Mets fan (who as others may or may not know tends to see lemonade and wonder where the ice will come from) the meaning of these spring-training maladies and you’ll find that for the Metropolitans, its never too early to look an omen in the eye and soil yourself.
But hey… at least we’ve got a healthy Johan!
