An Early Return For Alou

In a week the Mets will start the regular season. While they finished spring with a decent record (I realize that doesn’t count for anything come the end of the regular season), the finished the spring with the fewest homeruns of any team. Perhaps one reason for that is they played without Moises Alou so there was no one to offer protection to some of the Mets big guns.

Originally the prognosis was Alou would be out until sometime in May. Of course, since we are talking about Alou, the belief held by many is it would be the later part of May, if not June, and even when he returned, who knew how long he would play before getting injured again.

Now, according to reports, Alou says he feels good, those who are around him say he looks good and Alou’s goal is to return in April. This would be great BUT I just don’t see it happening. Either he will need more time or he will rush to get back and simply reinjure himself shortly after coming back. At least, that is my guess.

Still, since Alou is injury prone, perhaps it is not a bad thing if he rushes to get back because either way he probably will do at least on more stint on the Disabled List this year. The Mets are a stronger team with Alou then without him. So, if he rushes to get back, at least the Mets will have him for a few games during the regular season.

Of course what they do next year to handle left field is anyone’s guess. Alou is a great ballplayer when he is healthy. Unfortunately, that seems to be less frequent than when his is unable to play. As a result, I don’t think he will play with the Mets beyond this year, especially being 42. Still, that’s looking ahead to next year. Right now the Mets focus has got to be on this year and on winning it all this year (or at the very least going to the World Series).