Written by Anthony DiComo at MLB.com
First Yoenis Cespedes came walking through the Turner Field clubhouse doors, looking sprightly and ready to play. Some hours later, Noah Syndergaard was scheduled to join Cespedes and the Mets, who received fine news late Wednesday night on both star players.
Syndergaard, whose MRI revealed nothing more than right elbow inflammation, will start as scheduled Monday against the Nationals. And Cespedes, who has a mild left wrist sprain, could return to the starting lineup as soon as Friday.
“I was very relieved,” manager Terry Collins said. “I know they’re tough guys. The one thing they don’t want to be accused of is every time there’s a little something wrong, coming in and saying, ‘Hey look, my arm [hurts].’ But that’s OK. That’s part of their job.”
Though plenty of public panic surrounded Syndergaard’s elbow flare-up, Collins said he was less concerned about that because of the right-hander’s years-long battle with recurrent soreness. Though obviously relieved, the manager was not particularly surprised when Syndergaard came away from team orthopedist Dr. David Altchek’s office with a relatively clean bill of health.
“When it comes to elbows, I really don’t like to screw around with those,” Syndergaard said. “If it’s bothering you, I like to speak up and voice my opinion about it. It turned out to be nothing, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.”
More concerning to Collins was the status of Cespedes, who rarely complains of injuries. So the manager was thrilled to learn that his starting center fielder would be able to play within 24 hours of receiving a cortisone shot. That technically made Cespedes available for Thursday’s series opener at Turner Field, but the Mets planned to shy away from using him in any capacity, giving the cortisone a longer period to work.
In 65 games this season, the likely All-Star is batting .290 with a team-leading 18 home runs and 44 RBIs.
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