Mets trying to avoid surgery as Juan Lagares' elbow discomfort continues
New York Mets manager Terry Collins created a brief stir on Thursday when he mentioned the words "Tommy John" when talking about center fielder Juan Lagares' chronic elbow injury.
"There's only a couple of things you can do," Collins said when discussing Lagares' injury. "One would be to have Tommy John and the other would be to rest it and just be careful. … If you take care of it, he's a position player, so he can play with this. A lot of guys have – even pitchers, to be honest. We just have to be careful that he doesn't get crazy and make an awkward throw or try to overthrow too much."
The mention of the surgery, while used by Collins to describe the general treatment of elbow ligament injuries, had reporters wondering if it would be a viable option for Lagares.
General manager Sandy Alderson shot down the suggestion.
"It's not anything we're looking at," Alderson said. "It's not an issue. He has soreness in the elbow."
While Tommy John surgery, which typically requires nine months of rehabilitation, is not in the cards right now, the Mets are making sure Lagares is as delicate as possible with his elbow given the recurring pain he's been experiencing.
"The elbow injury is something that it, for sure, has kept him from making the throws that he would normally make on a daily basis," Collins said. "We've asked him to be smart about when he really wants to let it loose. It's got to be a big situation. It's got to be a situation where he knows he's got to make a play. But just to throw every guy out on the bases like he did early last year, we're just asking for an injury to show up."
(h/t ESPN.com)
