Tuesday afternoon, the Mets were playing the Cardinals in yet another spring-training game. (The two teams have played each other seven times this spring and are surely sick of each other by now.) In the fifth inning, first baseman Daniel Murphy was caught in a rundown between third and home and tweaked his knee before being tagged out. He left the game and was still limping yesterday. At this point, spring-training games are open invitations for Mets to develop leprosy.
As you would probably guess, it turns out Murphy sprained his MCL in his right knee and will now be out “2–6 weeks,” which is yet another Mets injury with a recovery time that sounds like the hours of a cable guy. Combined with Jose Reyes officially being put on the disabled list, the Mets will be starting Mike Jacobs, Alex Cora, and Angel Pagan where Daniel Murphy, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran are supposed to be.
Murphy is less of a loss than Reyes and Beltran, but this Mike Jacobs is a far cry from the Mike Jacobs who hit 32 homers for the Marlins two years ago. Jacobs slugged .401 last season, which is lower than the league average for all players, let alone the supposed power position of first base. Fernando Tatis should see some time as there as well, though one man who won’t is top prospect Ike Davis: He’ll remain in Triple A for now.
Reyes is being retroactively DL’d, so he’ll be eligible to come back on April 10, though who knows if he’ll actually play that day. Daniel Murphy has never felt like more of a true Met.