VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Kaz Matsui will not be the Mets' starting second baseman on Opening Day.
An MRI on Matsui's right knee yesterday revealed no tear, but confirmed the initial diagnosis of a sprained medial collateral ligament. Mets manager Willie Randolph said Matsui would not be able to do anything for three weeks, at which time he could resume baseball activities and begin thinking about when he might be able to play.
Advertisement
"It's just unfortunate," Randolph said of the oft-injured Matsui, who hurt his knee sliding into second base in Thursday night's game. "It seems like every time he gets going again, he gets banged up again."
It's possible that the Mets could get involved in trade discussions for an available second baseman such as Boston's Tony Graffanino, the Cubs' Todd Walker or Tampa Bay's Julio Lugo. But it's far more likely, especially with Matsui due back in April, that they will now take a longer look at such in-house candidates as Anderson Hernandez and Jeff Keppinger. Randolph also named utility infielders Jose Valentin, who played third base last night, and Chris Woodward, who has been playing shortstop while Jose Reyes has been away at the World Baseball Classic, as candidates.
"We'll just continue letting everybody play and going through the competition," Randolph said.
Keppinger played second base in last night's game, and Hernandez, who has been away for several days due to a death in his family, is expected back for today's games. Hernandez is the 23-year-old prospect who batted .315 with nine home runs, 54 RBI and 35 stolen bases in 132 games split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Norfolk last year. Keppinger, 25, missed the second half of his 2005 season with Norfolk due to a leg injury. He was batting .337 in 64 games before the injury.
"I'm not going to focus on anyone in particular," Randolph said. "We'll just rotate guys and see what happens."
Matsui, who played in just 201 games in his first two seasons as a Met due to injuries and ineffectiveness, seemed relatively upbeat about the results of the MRI. He also sounded as if he thought the three-week prognosis might be conservative.
"They're saying three weeks, but I'm going to do my best to get back as early as I can," Matsui said through an interpreter. "I don't think it's gotten any worse (overnight). I feel a lot better just walking forward than I did (Thursday night)."
First baseman Carlos Delgado and center fielder Carlos Beltran, as well as Valentin, returned from the World Baseball Classic, where they had been playing for Puerto Rico. Neither made the trip to Vero Beach to play against the Dodgers, but Beltran likely will play today while Delgado continues to work his way back from his elbow injury.
I spoke briefly with Carlos Delgado, and he said he's going to take things day-by-day," Randolph said. "He hasn't taken that many groundballs. He feels great, though, and with two weeks to go, I'm not concerned at all."
Delgado echoed his manager's sentiments. He said his pinch-hit appearance Wednesday, in Puerto Rico's final game of the tournament, was "more like an emotional at-bat" than anything else, and that he didn't feel ready to play regularly yet. But he said he definitely would be ready for Opening Day, which is 16 days away.
Advertisement
"I'm going to go out on the field, take some batting practice, probably," Delgado said. "I'm not going to go crazy. This is the time to get some things right. We've still got plenty of time. Two and a half weeks or something. So I think that's plenty of time to get your timing down and get ready to play."
Beltran, who was Team Puerto Rico's starting center fielder, said he felt even better than he normally would at this time of the spring.
"I played every single game in the World Baseball Classic, and nine innings," Beltran said. "Normally, if I'd stayed here, I'd have been playing four innings and they take you out, trying to be conservative. So I feel better, physically, right now than I did this time last year."Despite hopes for a quick deal, the new Mets' network, Sportsnet New York, and Cablevision remain locked in negotiations to deliver the network to Cablevision's three million New York-area subscribers, one million of whom live in New Jersey.
Cablevision famously battled YES for 16 months before agreeing to put the channel on, and now talks with SNY are stalling over what SNY executives say are "minor issues."
"We remain in negotiations with CVC and we hope to finalize an agreement soon," SNY spokesman Andrew Fegyveresi said yesterday.
Talks are also continuing for deals with DirecTV and Dish, with SNY hoping to complete those agreements by opening day.
Well, let's see what these kids got. I'm leaning torward Anderson Hernandez getting the opening day spot right now.
Injury bug has got us already
