David Wright Is Injured Again, Will Likely Miss Opening Day

David Wright was sent back to New York from the Mets’ spring training camp in Florida today with yet another injury, this time a shoulder impingement that will keep him from throwing for a good amount of time.

The New York Post reports that Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said, “The impingement is correlated to Wright’s surgery last June for a herniated disk in his neck.” Wright will still be able to hit, but it seems unlikely the Mets will try to keep him productive as a pinch-hitter instead of just letting him heal from the shoulder injury.

It’s really bad news for Mets fans, but is exceptionally terrible news for Wright himself, who played in only 75 games in 2015 and 2016 combined due to spinal stenosis and surgery for a herniated disk in his neck.

The Mets have some infield flexibility in Wright’s absence, with Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores taking the bulk of reps at third base last year. Reyes and Flores’s performances last year could best be described as Fine or Good Enough, which, truthfully, is likely an improvement over what Wright could offer the team at this point.

It’s getting pretty hard to watch Wright attempt to resurrect his once-great career while clearly sacrificing his future health and mobility in the process. As Mets skipper Terry Collins would say: cripes.