With the Mets’ offense humming along, there’s no reason to rush Yoenis Cespedes back from the disabled list, especially since he’s still experiencing soreness in his right quad.
Cespedes hit today in Port St. Lucie and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. He won’t be back this week as the Mets originally hoped, so the delay will last until next week.
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CESPEDES: No need to rush him now. (AP)
“He’s making strides,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’re getting close. The one thing I learned a long time ago is you can’t control the healing process of any player. Just because Yoenis isn’t here, doesn’t mean we can’t win.”
However, the Mets have the potential to push the recovery timetable but should exercise patience. The offense has been hot for much of the month, with everybody in the outfield, Lucas Duda and Neil Walker all producing for the better part of the last two weeks.
Overall, the Mets have homered 12 times in their last eight games; they lead the majors with a .394 on-base percentage with RISP and are second in hitting (.310) in that situation.
What has let down the Mets has been their pitching, both starting and the bullpen, and Cespedes has no bearing on those numbers.
The Mets have already pushed Cespedes back several times, so the prudent decision would be to wait another couple of weeks and re-test him then.
Do they want to bring him back and risk an injury that could sideline him for another month or two?
