New York Mets third baseman David Wright started off his season pretty well, hitting .333 in his first eight games. Unfortunately, that is where Wright’s season took a sudden halt.
When Wright first got hurt, he was originally diagnosed with a hamstring strain on April 15. The higher-ups, including general manager Sandy Alderson, announced that Wright could be out for only two weeks, but three weeks would be a realistic expectation. As time went on, there were no signs that Wright was participating in any baseball activity, and it looked like he would be on the disabled list even longer than expected.
Then on May 23, the team and its fans finally got some news, but it was bad news. After seeing multiple doctors and getting numerous opinions, Wright was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. There are two types of spinal stenosis: cervical and lumbar stenosis. Lumbar spinal stenosis is much more common, which makes it less severe than cervical, but cervical stenosis can be much more dangerous.
Cervical stenosis can be extremely painful and very uncomfortable for anyone -- let alone an athlete. This injury came up last year when former New York Giants running back David Wilson had a similar injury and had to end his career after one season in the NFL. That said, Wright needs to be 100% healthy and certain that he is ready to resume baseball activity. This injury is nothing light, and it needs to be taken seriously.
So with Wright possibly sidelined for the rest of the season, where do the Mets go from here? As many of their fans hope, they would love to see the team go out and trade for Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier. However, he may be a pipe dream at this point, and the Mets may have to look elsewhere.
Some other options could include Martin Prado of the Miami Marlins and Ben Zobrist of the Oakland Athletics. Both Prado and Zobrist are veteran players who can play every position on the diamond if needed. They both can also hit and could give the Mets that extra bat needed in their order.
There has also been talk that the Mets may pursue Aramis Ramirez from the Milwaukee Brewers, but he might not be the upgrade that they need. He would give the Mets a possible right-handed power bat for sure, but he has only ten home runs on the season, and he has already stated this is his final season. That means that he would automatically be a rental for New York, and the return that the Mets might have to give up for him could be too high. The Mets may just be better off as is instead of going out and getting Ramirez.