The Mishandled Case of Carlos Delgado

Last night was the first time we saw Carlos Delgado make an appearance in almost a week.

Delgado has been missing time because of a strained hip. Last night was the fifth consecutive start that he has missed, and after weighing all of their options, including potentially putting Delgado on the Disabled List, the Mets decided that they would just throw him right back out there, which definitely seemed like a mistake.

When one of your big boppers if feeling pain and has already missed five starts at this point in the season, it is better to let him rest and get back to full strength, but now the Mets and Delgado may be irked by this injury for the rest of the season.

Judging by watching Delgado at the plate last night, it seems that most of the pain comes when he runs, but that is a pretty key aspect of the ballgame. Delgado already is limited when it comes to range at first base, but this injury will probably make him become one of the worst fielding first basemen in the game.

That is not something that Mets fans are going to look forward to seeing.

I just can’t imagine the consequences if Delgado loses his swing permanently. First of all, it’s not as if New York will be patient with him, because we have never been known for giving players too long a leash. Delgado knows from experience that if he doesn’t perform, the fans will make themselves heard, and that could make for a very uncomfortable position for Carlos.

I just think he would’ve have been better served just healing up, but according to team officials, they believe the extra days wouldn’t have made a difference and that is why we saw Carlos pinch hit last night.

Hopefully Carlos can persevere through this and make this a non-issue, but for me, I will be watching him very closely.

As the team’s cleanup hitter, he is a very important piece to the puzzle, and the Mets are going to need him swinging the bat well if they want to contend in the National League East.