the sports section

The Mets Injured List Is Really Quite Impressive

Carlos Beltran became the latest Met to land on the disabled list yesterday, joining Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and many, many others. It’s come to this for the Mets: The good news yesterday (other than beating the Cardinals, of course) was that a car accident on the RFK Bridge involving the already-injured Jose Reyes at least didn’t injure him any further. (The last thing they need is for their injured players to start getting hurt.) It’s not just that the Mets have a lot of players on the DL — the Padres actually have more — but that you could assemble a pretty impressive (and balanced) lineup just from those on that list. Granted, you’d only have six hitters — but we’re sure if we give them a few more days, that number will go up.

A lineup that begins with Reyes, Angel Pagan, Beltran, and Delgado would be a formidable one, certainly when compared with Alex Cora, Daniel Murphy, David Wright, and Fernando Tatis — also known as the first four batters in last night’s lineup. The DL Mets would have two of the Actual Mets’ five original starters in John Maine and Oliver Perez, a set-up man in J.J. Putz, and — don’t forget — an elite closer in Billy Wagner. Just how valuable is the disabled trio of Beltran, Reyes, and Delgado? If you go by their 2008 season-end fantasy-baseball ratings — an imperfect method, for sure, but one that at least lets you compare position players to pitchers — those three have a higher combined rating than any three players on any other team in the National League. And still, the Mets are just a game and a half out of first, and have a chance to really prove themselves this week. Just imagine if the whole team were out there.

The Mets Injured List Is Really Quite Impressive