NEW YORK _ After tightness in his right quad caused an early exit from a rehab game Saturday, Yoenis Cespedes will head to Port St. Lucie, where he'll continue rehab once it's determined how long he needs to rest before resuming baseball activities. Cespedes was targeting a return to the Mets' lineup Tuesday in Atlanta.
Cespedes, who was re-evaluated Sunday, has been on the disabled list since May 16, retroactive to May 14, with a strained hip flexor/right quad which he had been trying to play through before he was placed on the DL.
"Same stuff he's been battling," Mickey Callaway said regarding Sunday's evaluation. "It's not a total setback to Day One, but still not feeling the way he'd like it to feel to come up here and contribute."
The issue could be that Cespedes might never feel as comfortable as he wants to.
At the start of the Mets' miserable home stand, on which they were 0-8 going into the final game Sunday against the Yankees, Sandy Alderson described Cespedes' leg issue as "somewhat chronic." Callaway was asked if part of the process is making Cespedes understand he may have to play through some discomfort.
"That's a good question. I think that's what everyone is trying to determine; even Ces himself is trying to figure that out," Callaway said. "I think that when he initially went on the disabled list it was to knock this completely out so he can come back and be the healthy player he wants to be. As this continues to move forward and if it continues to drag on, there has to be a level of understanding that ... it may be something you battle throughout the rest of your career. But I don't think we're at that point yet. So I think that the goal is still to get him to where we can get him out there and feel normal."
An eventual move to first base could theoretically help limit the wear and tear on Cespedes' legs, but the odds of that happening this season are extremely slim at best. Callaway said ideally a player would get reps throughout an offseason and spring training to transition to a new position.
"The thing we'd be battling right now is, first of all, we're trying to get him healthy; then to ask his legs to do something that he's never been used to doing would be a tall task," the manager said. "We're trying to balance all those things. I think first and foremost we're trying to get a healthy left fielder back and then maybe we can consider other options after that."
Callaway bristled at the notion that the Mets should've shut Cespedes down earlier than they did.
"I think if we took that approach then we wouldn't even be fielding a team today because we've got guys that are playing through stuff right now," he said. "You really can't just, right when somebody starts feeling something, just take them out of the lineup and put them on the disabled list or you'd never have a full team."
So the wait for Cespedes continues while the Mets' season is in a downward spiral.
"We were excited about the prospect of getting him back in a few days, but like we said before, we can't let these injuries stop us from doing what we need to do," Callaway said. "We have other major-league players that can step up and get the job done, and that's what we have to do."
