David Wright to avoid DL for now
— -- PITTSBURGH -- New York Mets third baseman David Wright has been prescribed rest and anti-inflammatory medication for his ailing left shoulder but will not need surgery, assistant general manager John Ricco said Saturday.
Ricco said team doctor Struan Coleman diagnosed Wright with a bruised rotator cuff. The captain will remain in New York until he is re-examined on Monday.
Wright did not require a cortisone shot -- "not yet anyway," Ricco said -- and will stay off the disabled list at least until after that follow-up exam, when the team has a better handle on how long Wright may miss. Ricco added that the team will not call up an infielder now, even though the Mets only have one backup infielder at the moment -- Eric Young Jr., who primarily is an outfielder.
"Right now they don't think it's a DL, but they'll re-examine him on Monday and we'll have a clearer picture at that point," Ricco said. "... So it's good news. They want to see if it feels better after a couple of days' rest. They don't anticipate it being a DL stint. If he's still feeling the same, we'll reassess it at that time."
Wright underwent an MRI in New York on Saturday. He was scratched from Friday's lineup and traveled to Manhattan to be examined by team doctors at the Hospital for Special Surgery after discomfort in his non-throwing shoulder intensified during Thursday's series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Wright had experienced discomfort since jamming the shoulder while sliding headfirst on a steal on June 12 on a muddy surface at Citi Field. He said he typically slides feet-first on such plays.
Although he was playing through discomfort, Wright continued to have success before being scratched Friday. He was on a 10-game hitting streak when the shoulder became painful during Thursday's game. Wright said the issue worsened when he reached to tag out former teammate Ike Davis on a fourth-inning rundown, and then aggravated it further by reaching for Pedro Alvarez's groundball in the eighth.
"I would say it's fairly painful," Wright said Friday. "The issue is that these last three weeks I felt like I've been able to be productive and go through normal baseball things without feeling hesitant. [Thursday] night wasn't the case. I felt like it was prohibiting me from doing certain things on a baseball field."
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