David Wright is down again. The Mets’ captain, 32, has been out since April 15, when he was put on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. Saturday, the Mets announced that Wright has been diagnosed with spinal stenosis. This is the second time in three weeks that Wright has been forced to shut down rehab activities due to back pain. The plan is to sit Wright for a week and see if he recovers.
The Mayo Clinic defines spinal stenosis as, “a narrowing of the open spaces within your spine, which can put pressure on your spinal cord and the nerves that travel through the spine. Spinal stenosis occurs most often in the neck and lower back.” It is the same injury that caused the early retirement of running back David Wilson, and ended the career of Lenny Dykstra.
The Mets are being as cautious in their approach to the press as they are to Wright’s recovery. “They thought it would be gone by now, but the fact he is still feeling something,” Mets assistant GM John Ricco explained Saturday afternoon. “I think the initial diagnosis was stenosis, which is a narrowing of his spinal column, not anything structural. At this point he should be feeling pain-free for the most part and he is not,” Ricco said. “This is the way they recommended to try to heal it. Strengthen the core and hopefully stabilize the back.”
There are varying levels of seriousness to spinal stenosis. There is no reason to speculate that Wright is facing early retirement or anything more than what the Mets have announced. The larger problem for Wright and the Mets is his inability to stay on the playing field. Kristie Ackert of The New York Daily News sums up Wright’s injury history the last five years:
The 32-year old has been dealing with injuries frequently over the last three seasons and in four of his last five seasons. Last year he played 134 games, most of them limited by a shoulder injury that eventually shut him down early. In 2013, Wright played just 112 games after spending time on the disabled list with a right hamstring injury. Wright also missed 60 games with a stress fracture of his lower back in 2011.
Wright’s injury forces the Mets to confront two serious problems. Their lineup is 25th in the league in runs scored and, in late 2012, Wright signed an eight-year, $138 million dollar extension. The contract pays Wright through 2020, and some of the money is deferred through 2025. After a fast and exciting start for the Mets behind a bevy of young pitching, the organization now faces the reality that any future considerations revolve around Wright’s injury and contract.
There is an irresistible temptation to spend huge amounts of cash on productive and popular players in MLB’s largest markets, and there is no market bigger than New York. Time will tell who will win baseball’s ongoing argument about financial equity. Do you go all in like Anaheim, LA, and Boston? Or do you build from within? For now, Mets fans can only hope that David Wright is not their Bobby Bonilla of the 21st century.
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