Shouldering the burden

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I regret that I did not try harder in the typing course that my mother made me take during my junior year of high school. I thought typing was a stupid waste of time. Unfortunately, I did not forseee the age of computers.

[Edgy MD]

I should have tried harder in my optometry course.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Joel Sherman wrote: Michael Conforto has received excellent medical updates from his surgeons and should be swinging a bat by late January, according to his representatives. Conforto, who had left shoulder surgery in September, is working out regularly and should be a full-go for spring training, at which point it will be up to the Mets to decide if they want to limit his at-bats and have him gradually build up and potentially even miss Opening Day.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Joel Sherman wrote: Michael Conforto has received excellent medical updates from his surgeons and should be swinging a bat by late January, according to his representatives. Conforto, who had left shoulder surgery in September, is working out regularly and should be a full-go for spring training, at which point it will be up to the Mets to decide if they want to limit his at-bats and have him gradually build up and potentially even miss Opening Day.

This is why we hate you Sherman "Hey Mets fans, good news, Conforto's on track! but let's talk about him missing Opening Day anyway."

[Guest 41Forever]

Ceetar wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Joel Sherman wrote: Michael Conforto has received excellent medical updates from his surgeons and should be swinging a bat by late January, according to his representatives. Conforto, who had left shoulder surgery in September, is working out regularly and should be a full-go for spring training, at which point it will be up to the Mets to decide if they want to limit his at-bats and have him gradually build up and potentially even miss Opening Day. This is why we hate you Sherman "Hey Mets fans, good news, Conforto's on track! but let's talk about him missing Opening Day anyway."

Isn't spring training a process of building everyone up gradually? If he's "a full-go" for spring training, then it shouldn't be a problem. But now Sherman has created some drama.

[MFS62]

Ceetar wrote: This is why we hate you Sherman "Hey Mets fans, good news, Conforto's on track! but let's talk about him missing Opening Day anyway."

Y'mean the fact that he's a YLDB isn't reason enough?

Later

[Edgy MD]

How do you even get "should be swinging a bat by late January" and "potentially even miss Opening Day" into the same paragraph?

That's totally not news!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Geez.

You guys have a bat up your butts on Sherman and have to be willfully overlooking the nature of injury recovery and its history particularly with the Mets to read something sinister into Sherman covering the bases on this. Jeez Louise, until yesterday (thanks to Joel Sherman doing the good job he does) I'd say most of us were convinced he would miss opening day.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that paragraph. It's not out of the question that the Mets might opt to go a little slow with Conforto and it doesn't dilute the good news at all. If they go a little slow and Conforto doesn't debut until April 15 it's still very good news.

[Ceetar]

It's because he injected his own personal pessimism into the statement. the news is his checkups were good. He even doubles down with "he should be a full-go" and then makes up a reason for the Mets to, in fact, not have him at full-go. It's a direct contradiction. It's like he thought "Oh, did I just say it's all fine and dandy? instead of rewriting i'll just tack on some hedg-y words that don't come from the Mets but will 'cover my bases'"

It's like waiting until Alderson's like "no deal" and saying "I clearly meant _pending physicals_"

[Edgy MD]

I got nothing against Sherman. I just think the range of outcomes listed is pretty much where I had previously understood it to be, sort of "The Mets will consider signing both lefthanded and righthanded players" type of news.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I suppose so. I remain impressed with Ceets' determination to read motivation into such an innocuous passage. Does anyone doubt that if Scooter does miss opening day the print reporters would be slammed for having mislead us?

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I suppose so. I remain impressed with Ceets' determination to read motivation into such an innocuous passage. Does anyone doubt that if Scooter does miss opening day the print reporters would be slammed for having mislead us?

FFS NOBODY ACTUALLY CALLS HIM SCOOTER

I'm excited to get tickets for Conforto's big return from the DL when rosters expand in September.

[Edgy MD]

I didn't think there's anything sinister there. I just thought it was funny.

What sportswriter really could be expected to meaningfully understand the nuances of medical reports, even though their beats are full of them?

And, of course, Conforto could be raring to go, with the Mets cautiously riding the brakes, like they were with Syndergaard all through September. And the team doesn't even have a full training staff yet, so where can a reporter realistically plant his flag with regard to Conforto's return?

The question overshadowing the whole enterprise is Can or should the Mets be recruiting a third starting-quality outfielder limited to the corners?

I don't know, and I imagine opinion varies in the Mets' braintrust, too.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I suppose so. I remain impressed with Ceets' determination to read motivation into such an innocuous passage. Does anyone doubt that if Scooter does miss opening day the print reporters would be slammed for having mislead us?

see, but the way Sherman wrote he he's both blameless and culpable in both outcomes. Though usually they're quick to get out ahead of the injury and put the blame on the Mets somewhere.

Because he's literally reporting on a routine appointment. This is a "no news is good news" situation. It's a healing as expected checkup on a procedure. it's not actually good news, as it's being spun universally where I've seen it. It's just news, as far as 'no setbacks but haven't actually tested anything' is news.

But this is par for the course when you have to file filler content in slow times. It's similar to the "Mets remain interested in Lorenzo Cain but talks haven't progressed" that will probably make headlines today or tomorrow.

Actually maybe not today or tomorrow, they're busy promoting Boras' clients for him right now, because he's using big words and analogies!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The truth is it could go either way though.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The truth is it could go either way though.

I just saw a big long post that said the Mets basically don't need to worry about signing another possible corner OF guy now.

[Centerfield]

Let's go back to August of 2017. We are all pretty bummed about what we just saw.

Suddenly, KC pulls up in his Delorean and says:

"Hey guys, I know it sucks now, but just wanted to let you know that he's only going to miss 5 games. And he probably didn't even need to miss them, it's just that Nimmo's been lighting the world on fire and we wanted to get him some consistent looks.

Anyway, Conforto returns in game 6, the first game against the Nats. He hits a 2 run tiebreaking HR off Strassburg, and the Mets go on to win 8-2 and extend their first place lead."

Suddenly, not so bad right?

[Edgy MD]

Maybe the one with the DeLorean was The Met Fairy.

Is this the thread that she ended her tenure on?

[Centerfield]

Yeah, I think this was metfairy’s last flight.

[Centerfield]

themetfairy wrote: I'll say it here - the hysteria over Conforto's timetable is overblown and, at the very least, premature. I'm basing this on D-Dad's recent surgical experience at HSS, which involved both the labrum and the glenoid. His post-op recovery is going beautifully. I can't believe that a 24-year-old can't recover from capsule surgery (which presumably can also be done arthroscopically) at least as quickly as D-Dad is progressing.

Here's why metfairy is a better person than me. If I had written this, no chance I'm not doing a victory lap all over the forum.

[Edgy MD]

Maybe, but his early-season performance certainly suggested to me that that he was on the field too early.

It may just be coincidence, or maybe he was going to be rusty no matter when he came back, but he was getting murdered by hard inside stuff before the break.

[smg58]

He could have used more time to build up stamina, but playing didn't make the shoulder worse. I think/hope an offseason spent resting rather than rehabbing will do him a lot of good.