Hurting Piazza
ponders future
Talks of possible surgery, eventual position switch
Birthday blues: Mike Piazza, who turns 34 today, hopes to be in lineup for at least one game of today?s doubleheader and off DL the rest of the year.
Mike Piazza acknowledged there's a small chance his nagging wrist injury might require surgery in the offseason. He also seems to understand why questions about him eventually switching positions have resurfaced.
But Piazza still remains adamant about finishing this season, despite team doctors telling the All-Star catcher yesterday that he likely needs an extended rest to rid himself of the tendinitis that has hampered him for the last several weeks.
Piazza would have been in the lineup - albeit in the unfamiliar fifth position - had the opener of the Mets' four-game series at Shea against the Florida Marlins not been postponed yesterday by rain.
The game will be made up as part of a twi-night doubleheader tonight, and Piazza fully expects to be in the lineup for at least one of the games to test his pain threshold one final time before deciding his next course of action.
"I definitely want to finish the season. No matter what, I'm playing," Piazza said after the rainout was announced. "There's no way I want to finish the season on the DL or on the shelf."
Piazza was examined by team physician Dr. Andrew Rokito during yesterday's rain delay, and he said he likely will visit a hand/wrist specialist later this week.
In the interim, he expects to play in one of the games tonight before deciding whether to shut himself down for approximately 5-7 days.
If rest doesn't heal his injury, Piazza admitted another one of his offseason options is corrective surgery. Still, he considers that "a drastic measure at this point."
"That would be a definite monitoring thing," he said. "Rest it for a month, rehabilitate it for a month, and if some surgery is needed, we'll go from there so it won't impact the season."
With the 28 games remaining on the Mets' schedule virtually meaningless, Bobby Valentine admitted he's "torn" between having Piazza at his disposal on a daily basis and allowing his star player to rest to fully eradicate the injury.
"We're going to take another look at it. If it doesn't look or feel good (today), I dare say he might need five or six days (off) in a row," Valentine said. "I want him in there, too, but I want him in there healthy."
Piazza also seemed atypically resigned to the fact that he likely will have to consider switching positions eventually, a notion he vehemently has resisted throughout his career. With 328 lifetime home runs as a catcher, he is 23 shy of tying Carlton Fisk's all-time record at that position.
"I'm going to answer that the same way I always answer it: Until the time comes to address it, right now I'm going to deal with it as being the starting catcher," Piazza said. "But I've dealt with that my whole career. It's a position you're going to have (those questions).
"It's no secret, my birthday's (tomorrow), I'm not getting any younger. I'm not over the hill either, by any means, but for sure, your body's different at 34 than 24.
"And I know based on the position I play and my position in the lineup, it's obviously more in the team's best interest, as well."
Piazza has posted Hall of Fame-caliber numbers throughout his career, but a recent slump has caused his batting average to plummet to a career-low .269 this season. He originally injured his wrist July 31 in a collision with Houston's Richard Hidalgo.
Yesterday's game would've marked the first time in 107 starts this season that Piazza hadn't batted either third or fourth in Valentine's lineup.
"If he wasn't at full strength and I had to replace him," Valentine reasoned, "the lineup would stay intact."
Not that it ever could be intact without him.
ponders future
Talks of possible surgery, eventual position switch
Birthday blues: Mike Piazza, who turns 34 today, hopes to be in lineup for at least one game of today?s doubleheader and off DL the rest of the year.
Mike Piazza acknowledged there's a small chance his nagging wrist injury might require surgery in the offseason. He also seems to understand why questions about him eventually switching positions have resurfaced.
But Piazza still remains adamant about finishing this season, despite team doctors telling the All-Star catcher yesterday that he likely needs an extended rest to rid himself of the tendinitis that has hampered him for the last several weeks.
Piazza would have been in the lineup - albeit in the unfamiliar fifth position - had the opener of the Mets' four-game series at Shea against the Florida Marlins not been postponed yesterday by rain.
The game will be made up as part of a twi-night doubleheader tonight, and Piazza fully expects to be in the lineup for at least one of the games to test his pain threshold one final time before deciding his next course of action.
"I definitely want to finish the season. No matter what, I'm playing," Piazza said after the rainout was announced. "There's no way I want to finish the season on the DL or on the shelf."
Piazza was examined by team physician Dr. Andrew Rokito during yesterday's rain delay, and he said he likely will visit a hand/wrist specialist later this week.
In the interim, he expects to play in one of the games tonight before deciding whether to shut himself down for approximately 5-7 days.
If rest doesn't heal his injury, Piazza admitted another one of his offseason options is corrective surgery. Still, he considers that "a drastic measure at this point."
"That would be a definite monitoring thing," he said. "Rest it for a month, rehabilitate it for a month, and if some surgery is needed, we'll go from there so it won't impact the season."
With the 28 games remaining on the Mets' schedule virtually meaningless, Bobby Valentine admitted he's "torn" between having Piazza at his disposal on a daily basis and allowing his star player to rest to fully eradicate the injury.
"We're going to take another look at it. If it doesn't look or feel good (today), I dare say he might need five or six days (off) in a row," Valentine said. "I want him in there, too, but I want him in there healthy."
Piazza also seemed atypically resigned to the fact that he likely will have to consider switching positions eventually, a notion he vehemently has resisted throughout his career. With 328 lifetime home runs as a catcher, he is 23 shy of tying Carlton Fisk's all-time record at that position.
"I'm going to answer that the same way I always answer it: Until the time comes to address it, right now I'm going to deal with it as being the starting catcher," Piazza said. "But I've dealt with that my whole career. It's a position you're going to have (those questions).
"It's no secret, my birthday's (tomorrow), I'm not getting any younger. I'm not over the hill either, by any means, but for sure, your body's different at 34 than 24.
"And I know based on the position I play and my position in the lineup, it's obviously more in the team's best interest, as well."
Piazza has posted Hall of Fame-caliber numbers throughout his career, but a recent slump has caused his batting average to plummet to a career-low .269 this season. He originally injured his wrist July 31 in a collision with Houston's Richard Hidalgo.
Yesterday's game would've marked the first time in 107 starts this season that Piazza hadn't batted either third or fourth in Valentine's lineup.
"If he wasn't at full strength and I had to replace him," Valentine reasoned, "the lineup would stay intact."
Not that it ever could be intact without him.
