Why haven't the Mets placed Ryan Church on the DL? Why do they schlep him on flights east, west, north and south like he's the title character of Weekend At Bernie's when every single night Gary and Keith come on and inform us that he doesn't look quite right, that he's still a bit glassy-eyed, that it's telling that he's not starting or pinch-hitting? They do not seem to be alone in their analysis of his state.
What is to gain by allowing a concussed player, even if he was your best player before taking a knee to the head, to linger in anything close to semi-twilight? Shouldn't Ryan Church be allowed to rest fully and heal as best as he can without the extra pressure of these road trips? I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on this blog, but I find this near negligence of his well-being (in June, not late September when you could be all competitive about it and demand all hands on deck) a mite disturbing. Does Ryan Church say he's OK? Then tell him, OK, you get better than OK.
Maybe he strides to the plate tonight and goes 3-for-4 and homers as he did on Sunday against the Dodgers before he had to board his third long flight since the collision in Atlanta. Maybe he's so close to swell that his situation is being misread by amateurs and managers. But we're now almost three weeks removed from his second concussion of 2008 and there has been no indication that every little thing is fine.
Fifteen or so days without him now may be doing him and us a big favor as the season unfolds.
UPDATE: Church is shut down for “a few days,” reports John Delcos of the Journal News, because he's been feeling pressure akin to “a heartbeat in my head”.
So I ask again, why is he not simply disabled so this matter can be attended to thoroughly?
Agreed – it's reckless and irresponsible for the team to be messing around with this. Put him on the DL and give him a chance to truly recover.
On tonight's pre-game show, it sounds like they're talking about finally doing that when the team comes back to New York. Man, what a blow. I just hope he gets better soon.
Speaking of the DL, has anyone heard anything about Pagan? I know he was placed on the 15 day DL after he took that nasty spill into the stands, but that was back before the middle of May, and they made it sound like his shoulder was just badly bruised.
About a week ago I heard “not close” for Angel.
This team has not had the faintest clue about how to use the DL for about the last 15 years, it seems…