New York Mets News: Jason Bay Injury Update

New York Mets outfielder Jason Bay will hit off of a tee today, and the team hopes that the doctors will grant them permission to allow Bay to start to take light batting practice on Monday. Although there is no time table set out, the Mets are hoping that Bay will return in early June.

In other injury news, shortstop Ruben Tejada will start his minor league rehab assignment next week. Manager Terry Collins expects Tejada to return sooner than Bay. He can return before the end of May if things go well for the shortstop, but he was only recently cleared to resume baseball activities.

The Mets recently promoted reliever Jeremy Hefner after demoting 2-20 2B Jordany Valdespin. Hefner’s promotion means that struggling reliever Manny Acosta‘s roster spot could be in jeopardy if he doesn’t improve. When asked whether or not Hefner would stay with the MLB squad after the weekend, Terry Collins responded to ESPN New York, “We’ll have a decision to make at that point”.

Manny Acosta has a horrible 10.53 ERA this season through 17 appearances, and he has been worth a grand total of -0.7 WAR in those 19.2 innings. His preseason ZiPS projected ERA/FIP was around 5.00, but it has now swelled to something between 5.75 and 6.00 due to this nightmarish start. Acosta was worth a career-high 0.3 WAR in 2010, and that was his last- and only- at least average season of his career.

Jeremy Hefner looked promising in his sharp outing against the San Francisco Giants on the 23rd of April. The newly promoted MRP tossed three scoreless innings and has more upside than Acosta at this point. The Mets should stick with him and dump Acosta.

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