Among a plethora of changes being made to the New York Mets’ staff, the team announced on Tuesday that they have parted ways with long-time head trainer Ray Ramirez.
This comes days after manager Terry Collins resigned from his position after the final game of the season on Sunday. New York also announced that Dan Warthen will not return as pitching coach, but has been offered another position within the organization.
Having been with the team since 2005, Ramirez has often been the scapegoat among fans when the team was constantly plagued by injuries.
It was no different in 2017 as numerous big names went down with long-term injuries that helped withhold the Mets from competing in any sort of way:
Notable Mets injuries in 2017
– Noah Syndergaard (lat): Limited to just seven starts
– Yoenis Cespedes (hamstring): Played in just 81 games
– Jeurys Familia (shoulder): Pitched in 24.2 innings
– Zack Wheeler (arm): Shut down in July due to a stress reaction in his throwing arm
– Matt Harvey (shoulder): Missed two-and-a-half months after pitching with broken bone in shoulder
– Michael Conforto (shoulder): Shut down in August after dislocating shoulder while swinging
It was an unfeasible turn of events to see a team with World Series aspirations suddenly become a bottom-dweller in their division, finishing the season with a 70-92 record.
But injuries have constantly been a prevalent factor with the Mets since Ramirez’s arrival and after 13 seasons.
In 2008, Ramirez played a big part in destroying Ryan Church’s career after the outfielder suffered a serious concussion by clearing him to travel with the team via airplane, which you are not supposed to do after suffering such an injury.
Ramirez also cleared Jason Bay to play with a concussion in 2010 during his short and unsuccessful stint with the club.
A year later, first baseman Ike Davis, who was developing into a lethal offensive weapon, saw a minor ankle injury develop into a season-ending ordeal. It only went downhill from there as he mysteriously contracted Valley Fever and was never the same. He is currently in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor
Ramirez then almost derailed the career of Carlos Beltran who went against the trainer’s wishes and underwent knee surgery. Ramirez believed that he could have played through it, but when he visited the Colorado Rockies’ team doctors, it was revealed that Beltran could have damaged his knee so badly that it would have ended his career.
