Food for Thought

The Mets have had 17 different guys on the disabled list throughout the season, not mentioning several guys having multiple stints on that list. 17 out of a 25 man roster. That is 68 percent. Think about that.

Now I am going to give you another statistic. This year, the Mets have used 47 different players on the major league team. 17 injured players, 47 overall. That is 36 percent.

36 percent. 36 percent of all Mets this year have been injured.

That is more than a third. So next time you think that the Mets suck this year, and Mets fans just use injuries as an excuse, think about what your team could do with over a third of its roster missing. That is 8.25 players, but since you can't have a quarter of a player on the DL, lets just say he is Day to Day throughout the season and can not play more than 5 consecutive days.

So lets think about it.

If the Red Sox were missing Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Bay, Victor Martinez, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, and Mike Lowell for the entire year, could they make the playoffs? Now obviously all of the Mets players are not all out for the whole year but we have had 17 different guys on the DL, so according to my math that is equivalent to have that 36 percent out the whole year, since after all, these Red Sox are only 8 guys. Now also say J.D. Drew can not play more than 4 or 5 games in a row since he is Day to Day. All season.

Now think about the Dodgers. Minus Manny Ramirez, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, and Andre Ethier. For the whole year. And Orlando Hudson is day to day. Could this team make the playoffs?

Could the Yankees make the playoffs if they did not have CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixiera, Jorge Posada, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera? And Nick Swisher is day to day?

Take the Giants. Now take away Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson, Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina, Freddy Sanchez, Randy Winn, Nate Schierholtz, and list anyone else as day to day. Not a playoff team. And I said anyone else because I really couldn't think of any other role players on that team. Certainly not making the playoffs then.

The Angels could not play in October if they did not have Chone Figgins, John Lackey, Brian Fuentes, Maicer Iztures, Mike Napoli, Vladmir Guererro, Kendry Morales, and Jaun Rivera all gone. And Bobby Abreu is day to day.

Picture the Phillies without Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cliff Lee, Shane Victorino, J.A. Happ, Brad Lidge, Jayson Werth, and Pedro Feliz is day to day.

I think you get my point. There is not a single team in baseball who could endure what the Mets are going through. You have to give them credit for being able to still have a better record than  9 other teams up until this point. And remember them while you make your predictions for the 2010 season.